Schoolgirl Rudie
by Tallulah Grammar Songstress
Summary: Amy is trapped in a miserable life...but that all changes when a rudie crashes through her window, and drags her into a world of Rokkaku related danger... GumxBeat,GaramxPiranha,TabXOC.
1. Default Chapter

Prologue  
  
(New fic, new danger...okay, I don't own JSR, however there are some new characters in this fic which are (c) me and which I would appreciate being asked about if you want to use them (or in other words, use them and I force-feed you irregular verbs and paragraphing structure.) Please r+r this as I need the feedback! I NEED IT DAMMIT!  
  
It was a dark and stormy night, which suited the occasion perfectly. The streets   
of Tokyo-to were lashed by the rain, and every so often the damp ground   
glittered in a flash of lightning.   
The newly-built Rokkaku building towered over the city, the red   
hexagon symbol on the side glistening with rainwater. It was dark, except for a   
faint light at the centre of the symbol that shone feebly in the storm.  
Thunder growled over the building, and the figure standing at the   
hexagon window looked up for a second, then turned back to her work. The   
desk light next to her laptop computer threw shadows onto her face, but they   
didn't hide the satisfied smile creeping across her lips.  
She was typing quickly, long elegant fingers dancing across the   
keyboard. The screen glowed, and the words Password Required burst onto   
the screen.  
The woman twirled a strand of smoky-black hair round her finger,   
opened another window on the screen, and clicked on Activate Program. The   
computer whirred and clicked, a sound which was almost drowned out by   
another growl from the heavens.   
She waited.  
Suddenly the screen changed, and began to flood with writing. The   
woman leaned forward, and began to read.   
I, Goji Rokkaku, have set down in this file all details of the plot to   
destroy Tokyo-to, so that my son, if he sees fit, can follow in my footsteps...  
The woman's eyes narrowed, and her mouth lost its smile. Eventually   
she stopped reading, shut down the computer, and walked to the window.  
She looked out over the drowning city, and then, as the thunder tore   
open the air above her, turned away, switched off the light, and left the room.  
The night seemed darker already.  
  
(Don't stop, there's another chapter! Please read and review!)  



	2. Dreams

Chapter 01 - Dreams  
  
Je n'ai pas creé le jouet d'ordinateur 'Jet Set Radio.' I also may as well confess that I am extremely nervous about this fic, I have no idea whether you'll like it, the only feedback I've had is from N1K and I can't trust him, lying little whelp...ahem, yes, so please be nice to me on this. If you hate the story, compliment me on my spelling! My description! The way you think I wear my hair! Anything! Oh, geez, self-esteem plummeting...what I'm trying to say is please be nice as I'm worried about sending this poor little fic out onto the snowy playground of fanfic.net. Please r+r!  
  
The rain pounded on the window of Amy Winters's bedroom. She lay there,   
listening to it, shivering in her cold bed.  
I can't sleep now, she thought, and sat up, looking round the room.   
Lightning flickered, shining for a millisecond on the grey walls and carpet, the   
empty shelves, the blank-faced cupboards.   
I've spent practically my whole life in this room, Amy thought. And   
you'd never know it. It's the most boring place I've ever seen.  
She got out of bed, biting back a yelp as her feet met cold air, and   
crossed over to the window. Rain was dribbling down the glass, distorting the   
view outside, but as she sat down on the window seat she made out a few city   
lights bravely keeping bright despite the storm.  
And figures...outside in the rain...  
Amy squinted, wondering if she'd imagined it. But no - there they were   
- a bunch of people, sliding along the banisters of the walkways below her.   
Jumping, performing strange acrobatics in the air - and as one of them did so,   
the lightning jumped again, and she saw that they were wearing skates.  
"So that's the rudies everyone's talking about," she said to herself, and   
watched more closely.  
One of the rudies stopped, and took out a spray paint can. Amy stared   
as the paint hissed through the rain, and the design took shape. She'd noticed   
those sort of things around before, but it was odd to see one actually being   
created now.  
She pressed her nose against the cold window, and watched for all she   
was worth.  
  
"Tab, why are you bothering?" Gum said as Tab put the finishing touches to   
his tag.  
"I'm a rudie, aren't I? It's not like this paint is water soluble."  
Gum shrugged, and flicked a tail of damp blonde hair out of her eyes. "I   
guess so. I'd rather not stand still for long in this weather."  
"Skating in the rain. Doncha just love it?" Tab grinned, finished his   
tag, and leapt back onto the banister.  
"No," Gum snapped, following him. "I'm cold. This wasn't my idea."  
"Geez, quit moaning! You're just scared you'll slip and fall."  
"I am not!"   
Tab laughed as he ground away from her. The other GGs had spread   
out around Benten-cho, and were tagging for all they were worth. It wasn't   
exactly an attempt to take the area from the Noise Tanks...well, all right, it   
was, but not a very serious one.  
"Hey, Tab!" Gum called over thunder. "I dare you!"  
"Dare me what?" Tab jumped neatly off the rail into a puddle, and   
yelped as the cold water bit through his boiler suit. Gum grinned as she skated   
to stand next to him.  
"Well, what's the dare?"  
Gum pointed up the steps that led to the highest walkway. "Grind up   
that banister - jump onto the phone wire - grind along - wall ride off that   
house, and I'll take points off if you smash the window - then get down   
without breaking anything."  
"That all? Honey, I was doing stuff like that when you were still in   
kindergarten."  
Gum made a face at him. "Well, do it this time, then."  
"Fine." Tab backed up a little to give himself a run-up, then charged   
towards the banister. He leapt onto it, and rose up. The phone wire loomed in   
front of him. He jumped onto it. It sloped a little, and he felt himself begin to   
slide faster and faster.   
Benten-cho seemed kind of a long way down.  
Tab prepared to jump and wall-ride. He probably would have done it if   
his hat hadn't slipped even further down over his eyes, blinding him for a   
crucial second. Quickly he pushed it up again, but he'd missed his cue. The   
window was looming up in front of him - he saw a figure dash away from it -   
throwing his arms up in front of his face he felt it strike.  
CRASH!  
"Oh, ow, oh, man, oooohhhh man!"   
Tab landed on his stomach a few metres away from the window.   
Gasping, he got to his feet, hearing broken glass crunch under his skates, and   
looked round.  
There was a girl, sitting on the bed, eyes wide.  
"Hi," Tab said, giving her a nervous grin. "Look, I can explain   
everything...I was just, um, walking up those steps, and suddenly this huge,   
um, crow came and picked me up and threw me onto your phone wire, and I   
couldn't jump off in time, and...so here I am. And I'll just be leaving."  
"That's a good excuse," she said. "You're a rudie, right?"  
"It's the skates, isn't it..." Tab stopped. "No. Course I'm not. Totally   
not a rudie."  
"I saw you, tagging."  
"So? You got a problem with that?"  
"No." She had large eyes, and they were watching him closely. "I   
thought it looked cool."  
Tab knew he should make a break for it, back out the window, but he   
was intrigued. "Cool? You're a cute little rich kid. Why'd you think it's cool?   
You should be running for the Keisatsu by now."  
"Keisatsu?"  
"Cops, you dweeb. Police. The boys in blue."  
"Why'd I go for them?"  
Tab wondered whether to bang his head against the wall. "Duh! I'm a   
rudie. They want to smush me and every person who's ever put on a skate.   
How come you don't even know that?"  
"I don't get out much. I think they had a talk on it at school, but I   
missed it. Why'd they hate you?"  
"Oh, the small matter of tagging everything we can get our hands on..."   
He looked round the room. "Geez, this place needs some interior decorating. I   
thought you sort of girls had pink walls and a bunch of teddy bears."  
"My aunt's not too keen on colour."  
"Your parents?"  
She blinked, once. "Dead."  
"Sorry."  
"Doesn't matter. Um - have you got to be anywhere tonight?"  
Tab looked out at the rainy streets. They didn't look very inviting. And   
Gum would laugh her head off when she next saw him.   
"Not really. Why?"  
She looked slightly away from him, face pale in the faint light from the   
broken window. "Could you - tag - my room?"  
"Huh?"  
"Please!"  
She was pleading with him. Tab put a thoughtful expression on. "I   
don't know. You see, I don't do just any tagging..."  
"Oh, but I'm sure such a brave, strong, handsome skater such as   
yourself wouldn't mind...just one or two..."  
"Ah, I never could resist flattery." Tab shook his spray paint can.   
"Let's paint the town red! Or whatever."  
He worked quickly, covering the acres of bare wall with swirls of red,   
blue, orange, black. It was a good tag. He stepped back, pleased with it, and   
bowed to her. "There you are, sister."  
"Thanks. Thanks a lot."  
Suddenly there were footsteps, and a voice called, "Amy? Amy, what   
are you doing?"  
"Shit!" Tab dashed to the window. "See ya, sweetheart." He bounded   
out onto the phone wire, and away into the rain.  
  
Amy threw herself under the covers, shut her eyes, and tried to breathe slowly   
as she heard the door open.  
"Amy Winters," her aunt's voice called. "What on earth is going on?"  
"Huhhh...What time is it?" Amy blinked and yawned, hoping her   
performance would be convincing enough.  
"Amy, your window is smashed and - and - good grief, someone's   
scribbled all over your wall!"  
"I didn't hear anything..."  
She glanced at her aunt, whose face was suspicious.  
"I wonder, Amy. I wonder. Well, we'll talk about this in the morning."  
Footsteps, the door slammed. Amy breathed out slowly, waiting.   
Eventually she heard her aunt walk away from the door.   
Eavesdropper, she thought. The room was even colder now, and she   
could hear rain spattering onto the floor. But something had happened, and   
things had changed.   
  
The next day it had stopped storming, but the sky was still grey. Amy dressed   
in her school uniform - white blouse, blue skirt and black tights - and steeled   
herself for her aunt's anger over last night. Never mind that she'd denied   
everything.   
"What do you have to say for yourself?" her guardian stormed, pacing   
up and down in front of the breakfast table.  
Amy kept silent. She'd learnt from past experience that this was the   
best thing to do.  
"I give you a home, I take you in - care for you - feed you - and this is   
how you repay me." Her aunt was become tearful. That was a bad sign. Amy   
focused on her toast.  
"Don't you understand?" sobbed her aunt. "How could you do this?   
What did you do last night?"  
Amy tried to breathe calmly. Any minute now...  
Her aunt's hand lashed out, slapping her across the face. Amy   
stumbled, and caught onto the table for balance. Her heart was pounding with   
fury, but she forced it down.   
"Well?" Hands gripped Amy's shoulders, shaking her back and forth.   
Her vision wobbled, and she tried to hold onto the breakfast she'd eaten.   
Finally her aunt let her go. Amy staggered back, and watched as her   
relative began sobbing even more loudly.  
Now was the time to apologise, like she always did. But then, for the   
first time, she rebelled, turned away from her aunt, grabbed her bag and   
marched out.  
That was stupid, Amy said to herself as she made her way through the   
dull Benten-cho streets, kicking aside old party poppers and takeaway boxes.   
That was really stupid. She's going to be evil to you tonight.  
Well, I don't care.   
Her face stung. She tried to ignore it.  
She can't treat me like this forever. Soon I'll be out of there.   
Soon.  
When she got to school, most of the girls in her class were clustered   
round something, giggling.  
"What is it?" Amy said, putting her bag down on her desk.  
"Look." One of them handed her the magazine they'd been looking at.   
"Business Monthly? What's the attraction?"   
They giggled even more, and Katie Smith said, "Check out page   
fourteen."  
Amy flicked to the relevant page. On it was an article entitled, New   
Blood For Rokkaku Firm. Half of the page was taken up with a colour photo of   
a man and woman standing back to back.  
"I assume it's the guy..." Amy said. She checked the name under the   
picture. "Koji Rokkaku? Who's he?"  
"You know the Rokkaku Corporation? Own everything in this city,   
practically? Rich as somebody-or-other?"  
"Yeah."  
"You know the head of the company, Goji, got blown up in a   
construction accident?"  
"Yeah."  
"Or so they say," someone else said. "The rudies know different."  
Rudies...Amy found herself smiling, and quickly dragged her mind   
back to the conversation.  
"Well, Koji is his son. And the woman next to him is Camilla, Koji's   
twin sister. And don't you think Koji is the cutest thing on earth?"  
Amy studied the picture again. Both twins were very good looking,   
with smoky-black hair and tanned skin. Koji seemed muscular under his suit,   
and Camilla's hair was long, and she had a seductive smile on her dark red lips.  
"I guess so," she said. "But I didn't know you went for businessmen,   
Katie."  
"I'd go for him if he was a - a plumber!" Katie giggled, and turned   
back to her friends.  
Amy turned away, wishing she could be as ditzy and happy as the   
others. But she couldn't be. She kept quiet, she kept thoughtful.   
Only last night she'd surprised herself. As she remembered the tag the   
rudie had done for her, she felt a small smile creep over her lips.   
As soon as school was over she hurried home, almost excited to get   
there, which was a real first. Soon she'd see it, and that would prove it hadn't   
been a dream, it would prove there were things outside the grey house, it would   
prove that she could be part of them! When she got inside she dashed upstairs,   
flinging her bag into a corner as she did so, up the three flights of stairs to her   
room. She flung open the door -   
And stared at a blank, white wall.  
For a moment she couldn't breathe for disappointment. She stood there,   
frozen, feeling her hands tremble. Then she walked slowly over to it, and   
touched the fresh paint. It had only just dried.  
She could just see the tag, buried underneath the paint like a drowning   
victim. Amy felt like she was drowning herself.   
You idiot, she told herself. Thinking you could escape. You'll never   
escape. You'll be trapped forever.  
She looked round the room, and she found herself hating it more than   
she ever had before, and she thought, I've got to get out...got to...  
And ran.  
The streets of Benten-cho were the same as always, grey and silent,   
waiting for the night. Amy ran through them, hating them, desperate to get out.   
She didn't know where she was heading, but when she came the boundary of   
Benten she realised where she could go. Kogane-cho was rough and   
dangerous. But Shibuya-cho...  
Daylight district. Amy walked along a sunny street. There were people   
here. It was cleaner, quieter - more alive.   
She turned a corner, and walked into a bus terminal. Legs growing   
tired, she leant against the steps leading up to a walkway, and then at last she   
managed to think, and realise what she'd done.  
She's gonna kill me, she thought. She felt sick. What on earth was I   
doing?   
Well, I'm not going back. She took a deep breath. I won't.   
She closed her eyes for a few seconds. Suddenly she heard the sound of   
skates.   
She opened her eyes to see three rudies zigzagging between the parked   
buses. She recognised one of them as the guy who had crashed into her room   
the night before. With him was a pale girl with blue-black hair wearing what   
looked like a tattered blue leotard, with stripy tights underneath, and a skinny   
guy with red hair and green goggles. They were all three tagging one of the   
buses. Amy kept quiet. She wasn't about to draw attention to herself by going   
near them. They'd only laugh at her.  
She looked round the bus terminal. Cars were circling it, passing close   
to her. Suddenly she saw a police car cutting through the traffic like a shark,   
and remembered what the rudie had said: They want to smush me and every   
person who's ever put on a skate...  
"Hey, rudies!" she yelled. They turned, and she pointed as the car crept   
closer.   
"Hey, thanks!" called the girl. "Looks like Onishima's trying to be   
sneaky," she said to her friends. "Let's move it!"  
"Ah, come on," said the guy in the hat, the one Amy recognised. "Let's   
just finish this!"  
"Tab, move it," ordered the guy with the goggles. "It's too hot for a   
chase."  
Tab shook his paint can and carried on spraying. Amy watched. The   
car had stopped. The doors opened, and three truncheon-wielding cops leapt   
out. The driver stayed in the car.  
"Hurry!" she yelled. "They're coming."  
"Listen to the lady," the girl said, grabbing Tab's arm. "Move your butt   
already!"  
"I'm coming," Tab snapped. "You go wait for me."  
The other two sighed, but they hurried up the steps and ducked down on   
the bridge, where they were hidden from view.   
Amy looked from the cops, who were creeping forward, to Tab, who   
was happily spraying away as if he didn't have a care in the world. Didn't he   
see the danger? On the other hand, rudies could skate pretty fast. Maybe he'd   
be okay...  
A cop leapt forward, making a grab for Tab, who dodged easily,   
pivoted, and carried on finishing his tag. Amy itched to hit him. Just get out of   
there! she thought.  
At last he'd finished. Now he dashed away, the cops in hot pursuit.   
Amy expected him to make a break for it down the road, but instead he leapt   
onto a railing and began skidding along it, jumped across the road, onto another   
railing, jumped again, tagging a lorry in the process, seemed to skate across a   
billboard for a few seconds, then jumped another road onto another railing.   
Amy would've clapped if she hadn't seen the cops hurtling along behind him.  
Both the rudie and the police were coming towards her. She dodged out   
of the way as Tab jumped onto the banister, and watched in amazement as he   
rolled up it.   
Well, up part of it. About halfway up, he seemed to lose momentum,   
and began sliding back down again. He jumped several times, trying to gain   
some speed, but he was slowly but surely heading back to the ground.  
The cops rushed up and circled the steps. Wherever Tab landed, he'd be   
in trouble. Amy tried to think. What could she do?  
She opened her mouth and screamed, "Help! Help! A rudie stole my   
bag!"  
"What?" One of the cops came over to her. "Where is he?"  
Amy pointed, trembling, down the road the other way.  
"Right. Come on," the cop said to the other two. "Bag-snatching's a   
bigger fish."  
They rushed away down the way Amy had pointed. Amy hurried up the   
steps and helped Tab off the railing. He grinned, and said, "Thanks. But I   
could've handled it, you know. Don't worry about me."  
"Well, sorry! You just looked like you were struggling!" Amy said,   
feeling herself blush.   
"Ah, don't be mad with me! Hey, Beat, Mew, get over here!"  
The other two rudies got to their feet and came over to Amy and Tab.   
"Thanks," the girl - Mew - said. "I think it was a great thing to do,   
even if Mr Cool here -" she shoved Tab - "doesn't."  
"That's okay," Amy said. She felt herself smiling - rudies actually   
thanking her.  
Suddenly something stung her arm, and she cried out.  
"What happened?" Tab asked.  
A voice yelled from below them, "Freeze, rudies!"  
"Onishima," Mew said.  
"Typical." Beat grinned. "Okay, Mew, me and you'll go one way -   
Tab, you go the other. Try and lose him and meet up at the garage. Okay?"  
They nodded. Tab grabbed Amy's wrist, and said, "Run!"  
They dashed along the bridge towards the billboards. Amy knew Tab   
could've run much faster, but he seemed to be holding back for her. She didn't   
know whether to feel good or bad about that.   
Tab slid down the banisters. Amy ran down the stairs. There was a   
shot, and she fell as a rubber bullet hit her back. Her knees scraped the ground.   
Tab grabbed her wrist, hauled her to her feet, and set off, half dragging her.   
She felt ladders rush down her tights.   
They dashed out of the bus terminal, and into the crowds in the square,   
zigzagging between them. Amy concentrated on avoiding people. Then Tab   
charged down a small side street. Amy followed. They took several turns,   
rushing deeper and deeper into the maze of backstreets. Finally Tab stopped   
running, and led her to a derelict-looking house. The top floor had had its   
walls ripped off, and the rooms lay open to the air.  
"Hardly the Ritz," he said, breathing quickly, "but it's a safe house.   
Come on."  
He led her inside, through the dusty hallway and into a large room that   
was empty except for two old packing cases.   
"Sit down, madam," he said, sweeping an elaborate bow.  
Amy, grinning, did so, grateful to rest.   
"I didn't take us back to the garage - that's our headquarters - cos he   
seemed to be following us, and I don't want to risk leading him there."  
"That's okay," Amy said. The air was dusty, and she swallowed. "But   
who exactly are you? I mean, apart from being a rudie. Whose headquarters is   
it?"  
"I'm part of a gang of us, called the GGs."  
"Why's it called that?"  
Tab shrugged. "You know, I'm not actually sure. Some say it stands   
for 'good guys.' Anyway, who're you? I don't even know your name."  
"I'm Amy."  
"Why'd you help us back there? Most kids think we're cool, but they   
don't actually go up against the law."  
"I wanted to. You were nice to me."  
"All I did was tag your room."  
At the mention of that tag Amy felt rage boil inside her. To cover it she   
said, "Yeah, well, I need distractions at the moment. And you lot are all so   
brave."  
"Us, brave? We're just regular kids."  
"You're not afraid of the cops."  
"No, but we're all a little nervous of getting caught. Not that we will, of   
course. We're smart. But if we did...well, they're pretty tough on juvie   
skaters. Any skaters, really. You don't skate, do you?"  
"No. I tried, once, but I couldn't keep upright."  
Tab laughed. "That must've been a sight for sore eyes. What about   
tagging?"  
"Look, you said yourself I'm a cute little rich kid. What do you think?"  
"Just wondered." He looked thoughtful. "You want to try?"  
"Really?"  
Tab threw her a can of paint. "Just spray something. Anything."  
Amy shrugged, and sprayed a large, wobbly A onto the floor in black   
paint.  
"Colour it," Tab said, handing her another can.  
She filled in the outline, spattering the concrete floor with blue specks.  
"Not bad," Tab said. "But relax a bit, okay?"  
"What do you mean?"   
"It's not gonna bite you. Be gentle with it. And do it quicker."  
Amy sprayed another A, trying to follow his instructions. This one   
came out better, and she was almost pleased with it.   
"Why are you helping me with this?" she asked Tab as she sprayed.   
"Why not?" He looked slightly shifty.   
"Come on. You've got to have some reason."  
"Well...I have, to tell the truth...but it's stupid. You'd not agree with it,   
anyway."  
"What is it?"  
"Welllll..." Tab appeared to contemplate running, changed his mind,   
and said, "You were pretty helpful back there. The cops would never have   
believed you if you'd been looking like us. The school uniform and all..."  
"So?"  
"I was wondering if I could interest you in the post of honorary GG."  
"Huh?"  
"You can't skate, but you're a good distraction, and you look really   
innocent. Course, I'd have to clear it with Beat - the other guy you saw, he's   
our leader - but I reckon I could get him interested."  
"You're kidding. Right?"  
"No, course I'm not."  
"Then you've got some ulterior motive, right? You want - I don't know   
- something I have."  
"Yeah. Your little rich schoolgirl persona. Nothing else."  
Amy thought about it. What had she got to lose? "Okay. But I bet your   
leader won't agree."  
"I'll work on him. We're like that." He crossed his fingers. "Anyway,   
why're you so negative? Be happy. Chill, babe." He put on a meditating   
attitude, and Amy laughed despite herself.   
"I'm sorry."  
"Nah, don't worry. Let's get moving, anyway."  
  
Tab led her back through Shibuya-cho. It was getting late, and their shadows   
lengthened behind them. Amy knew she'd be in for a row when she got back,   
but at that moment she didn't care. She was much more nervous about meeting   
the other GGs.  
Tab reached a small, battered looking garage. He opened the door with   
one hand and gripped Amy's with the other. They walked inside.  
"Hey, Beat!" Tab dashed up to the guy with green goggles, dragging   
Amy, who was starting to feel nervously queasy. "Listen, I have a great idea."  
He began to explain to his leader, and to a blonde girl in a white   
minidress, who was watching him suspiciously. Amy stood there, trying not to   
meet the eyes of the other rudies. Mew gave her a smile, but the rest just   
looked at her, puzzled.  
"Can she skate?" Beat said.  
"Uh - no. But look, that's part of the point! If she doesn't skate, she   
doesn't look like a rudie, and if she doesn't look like a rudie, she doesn't get   
suspected, and if she doesn't get suspected - look, do you see what I'm getting   
at? Cos if you don't, I'm thinking you're not bright enough to be leader, no   
offence meant..."  
"Tab, shut up," said the girl. "I'm sorry, but how is a skateless GG   
supposed to be useful?"  
"Arrrrrrrrgh!" Tab smashed his head down onto the sound system.   
"Will you listen already! Beat, you saw what happened. Convince her!"  
"I guess it makes sense," said Beat. "Come on, Gum - she did help   
us..."  
Gum glowered. "Yeah. Maybe. But how's she gonna help you tag?   
It's not like she can reach anything off the ground."  
"Yeah," Tab said. "But while we're jumping all over the place tagging   
the tough stuff, and Onishima's watching us, she can do the easy stuff."  
"That makes absolutely no sense," Gum said.  
"Oh yeah? Well, it's a better idea than any of yours!"  
"You calling me dumb?"  
"Shut up, you two!" Beat yelled. "I'm leader and I say we should test   
her."  
"She can't skate!" both Gum and Tab yelled.  
"Will you keep your mouths shut?" He turned to Amy. "Can you tag?"  
"Sort of."  
"Okay, then. Tag. Make room, everyone. Tag the floor," he said, and   
handed her some paint cans.  
Amy took a deep breath and tried to look confident. She picked up the   
black paint can and shook it with damp fingers. Then she began to spray.  
The paint hissed onto the floor, spattering her skirt, as she drew out the   
A again. On the way to the garage she'd seen other tags, and now she tried to   
make the A look like them.   
That was the outline. A little blotchy in places, but not bad. She picked   
up the dark blue paint, and filled in the top of the letter, trying to relax like Tab   
had said, and trying to ignore the other GGs, whom she could feel watching   
her.   
Now the light blue. She blended it in with the dark colour. Her heart   
was drumming in her ears. And it was so quiet. Were they all so horrified at   
how bad it was?  
Now the silver. The paint smell stuck in her throat, and she coughed a   
little.  
Finally it was finished.  
Amy stepped back, and met Beat's eyes. She wasn't going to show   
them how scared she was.  
He studied the tag a few moments, then grinned and said, "Not bad."  
"So she's in?" Tab said.  
"Hey, I didn't say that. Look," he said to Amy. "You helped us today,   
and I'm grateful for that. I'm sure you could be useful if it was just a question   
of tagging. But say you do slip up - cops figure out what you're doing -   
how'll you get away? You can't run fast enough, and you don't have skates."  
"I'd think of something," Amy said. "You wouldn't have to wait for me   
or anything - I could handle myself."  
"The whole point of being in a gang," Gum said, in the tones of one   
talking to an idiot, "is that we help each other. If we help you, we get our own   
butts hauled off to jail."  
"Not necessarily," Amy said, fighting to keep her voice calm. "It didn't   
happen today, did it?"  
"Could do."  
"Yes, and you could trip and break your ankle, or the wheels could   
come off your skates, or something, and then someone helping you could get   
caught. I know it's dangerous. I don't expect you guys to keep worrying about   
me. I'll take my chances."  
"Why d'you want to join so much, anyway?" asked a dark-skinned girl   
in a white top and trousers. "I don't see what's in it for you."  
"I'm sick of adults pushing me around," Amy heard herself say.  
"Oh, I see. Little rich kid rebel," sneered Gum. "Well, you know, some   
of us actually want to prove a point here. We're not just doing it 'cos mummy   
grounded us yesterday."  
"Her mum's dead," Tab snapped. "You shut your mouth."  
"What point?" Amy asked. Inwardly she was pleased that Tab had   
stuck up for her, but she tried not to show it.  
"We're expressing ourselves. We're fighting for our freedom of   
speech." Gum looked down at Amy and smirked.  
"How do you know I'm not?" Calm, Amy told herself. Calm.   
"You said yourself, it was just to get back at adults who'd pushed you   
around."  
"Fine. I'm expressing rage against them. I can't do that at home. I'm   
fighting for my freedom of speech too."  
Gum opened her mouth, then closed it again, glared at Amy and Tab,   
and marched away.  
"Nice one," Beat said. "Don't worry about her. I'll bring her round."  
"Does that mean Amy's in?" demanded Tab.  
"Yeah, okay. If she realises it's risky, and doubly so for her."  
"I do." Amy could hardly believe this was happening.  
"Okay, then. Meet us here tomorrow, any time."  
"It'll have to be after school." Amy blushed. "Is that okay..."  
"Sure. But don't tell anyone there about this, will you? This is   
supposed to be a secret hideout."  
"Sure."  
  
Tab walked her home. Amy was glad of it. As they approached Benten-cho,   
she remembered how furious her aunt was likely to be, and she shivered.  
"Man, this place is one big mess in daylight." Tab kicked a beer can,   
and it rattled down the pavement. "I don't think I've seen it at this time   
before."  
"How come?"  
"Oh, well, during the day we hang in Shibuya-cho. Gotta protect our   
turf and all. But at night the Noise Tanks come out - they're the gang that live   
round here - and it's fun to piss'em off a little by tagging round here. That's   
what we were doing last night."  
They reached the house. Amy looked nervously up at it. She could see   
her bedroom window, still smashed. The jagged hole in the glass was dark and   
vicious.  
"I'd better go," she said flatly. "Thanks for everything."  
"Sure. See ya tomorrow, okay?"  
"You bet." Amy walked up the steps and knocked on the front door.   
She turned and waved to Tab as he skated away, watching until he'd rounded   
the corner -  
- hands grabbed her shoulders. She shrieked.  
"So there you are," her aunt growled. "And where have you been all   
afternoon?"  
"Shibuya-cho," Amy said, fixing her eyes on the floor.  
"And what about the rule which says you have to come home straight   
after school?"  
"I did. Then I went out again."  
"Oh, I see." Amy winced as she was dragged into the hallway. Her   
aunt slammed the front door and pushed her against it. "You went out. Did   
you even think of asking me?"  
"I -"  
"No, of course you didn't, you ungrateful little slut." She slapped Amy   
round the face, hard. "Well, don't think you're going to do it again."   
Amy kept silent, fixing her eyes on a small brass lion which stood on a   
table near the door. It was not a good idea to tell her aunt she was going out to   
meet a gang of rudies tomorrow.   
"Answer me!"  
Amy cried out as her head was banged against the door. "I'm sorry!"   
"You will be." Her aunt dragged her to the stairs. "Get up there.   
You're staying in your room all today and tomorrow, and don't think I'm going   
to put myself out bringing meals to you."  
"Fine!" Amy shouted.  
"You dare shout at me?"   
Her aunt grabbed the lion from the table behind her, and swung it at   
Amy, who threw up her arms to cover her face. Just in time. She felt a dull   
pain spread through her upper arm, turned and dashed up the stairs. She felt   
her aunt following her, and moved even faster, but the older woman caught up   
with her, and grabbed her wrist, twisting it behind her back.   
Amy didn't even bother to struggle as she was pushed into her room.   
The door banged shut behind her and was locked.  
Upstairs she reviewed the damage. Her face was stinging, but that   
would pass. There was a bruise on the back of her head. Ditto. She   
unbuttoned the sleeve of her blouse and rolled it up. Her arm was red and it   
burned with pain. She prayed it wasn't broken. Not only would that be very   
hard to hide, but the GGs mightn't let her come out with them tomorrow.  
Anyway, the worst was over. No meals wasn't a problem. She was   
used to it.   
Then she remembered the GGs.   
How could she get to them now?   
Well, she'd find a way. If she didn't turn up, they'd all think she'd lost   
her nerve. She'd find a way.  
She glanced at the broken window, and then crept over to it, and looked   
out. The phone line was just below her. And a little way below that - well, a   
metre or two - was a bridge.   
Well, that was a possibility. Amy sighed. If Tab could get in, she could   
get out. If only she could skate...  
Downstairs she heard sobbing. Her aunt always cried after their fights.   
Soon she'd probably go and get dressed up, then stay out partying in Benten-  
cho all night. She'd sleep in the next day, and that would give Amy time to   
figure out an escape plan.   
She glanced at the picture of her mum and dad that was on top of her   
bedside table. They'd died when she was two. She'd been in care for eight   
years, then with her aunt until now.   
It hadn't always been so bad, Amy reflected. It was only recently - in   
the last year or so - that her aunt had become so angry. Before she'd been   
tense, touchy, not very child-friendly, but not violent. Now...  
Amy rubbed her arm. It was sending pulses of pain through her body.   
She blinked back tears.   
  
(Be nice, be nice, be nice...at the moment I hate this fic...please r+r...)  
  



	3. The New GG

Chapter 02 – The New GG  
  
(I don't own Jet Set Radio. Amy and the Rokkaku twins are my characters   
(though obviously the Rokkaku family is © Sega) so please ask if you want to   
use them. Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapters – you really   
boosted my confidence! Now make me feel really great and r+r this one!   
Pleeeeeease…)   
  
The next day Amy got up early. Outside the sky was grey with fading   
darkness.   
She dressed in her uniform and crept over to the window. It looked   
even higher now. But she couldn't afford to be scared.   
She sat on the windowsill, feeling the icy surface bite into her skin.   
Gripping the edge, she slid slowly down until she was hanging from the   
windowsill by her hands.   
Then she dropped.   
She landed with a jarring thud that sent vibrations all the way through   
her bones. Breathing a sigh of relief, which billowed out in front of her in the   
cold air, she set off to the bus station. She'd be totally early for school, but she   
could handle that. With the fact that all her books and her pencil case were still   
in the house – and she was not about to go in and get them – she'd need all the   
Brownie points she could get.   
  
After school she hurried to the garage, heart thumping. She was worried that   
she'd imagined it all. That it couldn't really have happened. Why'd they offer   
membership to a no-hoper like her? Maybe she'd turned delusional.  
She knocked on the door, and waited.  
Tab opened it. "Hey, Amy, good to see you. Come in!"  
Well, she hadn't imagined him, anyway. She walked into the garage,   
keeping her hands in her pockets so they wouldn't see how much they were   
shaking.  
Not all the GGs were there. Beat was, and Mew, and the black girl, who   
Amy learned was called Piranha. The other six were all absent, including   
Gum, Amy was glad to see.   
"Right," Beat said to her. "We're gonna go tag Park Street. You know   
that area?"  
Amy nodded.   
"You tag all the tags on the ground, and try and look innocent. Right?"  
"Yes."  
"And if you see cops, use your initiative to stop'em, preferably without   
giving yourself away."  
"Sure."  
"Then let's go."  
  
Amy found that distracting the cops wasn't as hard as it seemed. Sometimes   
she adopted the 'help, help, I've just been robbed/raped/stabbed' approach.   
Sometimes she tripped cops up and then apologised profusely and desperately.   
Tear gas made her job easier – she'd stagger around coughing and threaten to   
sue.  
She was getting better at tagging now, anyway. Better and faster. First   
it took her a whole tagging session to finish one tag. Then she could do two.   
Then four. Soon she was almost as fast as the other GGs.   
There was only one bad moment, a few days after the first time she went   
out with them. She was getting hot, and rolled up her sleeves. She thought   
nothing of it until Piranha said, "Hey, Amy, what happened to your arm?"  
Amy gulped, and looked at it. There was a huge, dark bruise glaring on   
her skin.  
"Oh…nothing…" she said. "Umm…I guess I must've caught it on   
something…or something. You know."  
Piranha didn't look convinced, but she didn't say anything more. Amy   
breathed a silent sigh of relief. Her aunt was still hitting her, but the bruises   
faded pretty quickly. But she'd keep her sleeves down, just in case.   
  
Two weeks after she'd joined, Amy arrived at the garage to find it empty.   
There was a note pinned to the sound system – Amy – out tagging in Kogane –   
Gum figured that was a little rough so we didn't wait 4 you – see you soon –   
Tab.   
Amy glowered. Gum would've said that. The blonde GG refused to   
believe that Amy was any use at all. The temptation to abandon the annoying   
girl to Onishima was growing daily, but she knew what the other GGs would   
think of her if she did that.  
Sighing, she turned on the radio, sat down on the floor, and got out her   
homework, seeing as she had nothing else to do.  
Discuss the imagery used in 'Of Mice And Men,' with quotations, she'd   
written in her homework planner. Oh, what fun.   
Lying down on her stomach, she unclipped her pen and began writing.   
There is a wide range of imagery in 'Of Mice And Men,' which is used   
to foreshadow the tragic ending…  
'Let Mom Sleep,' rattled out from the sound system behind, and she   
scribbled in time to the music. The garage floor was warm with sunlight, and   
she'd soon written half a page.   
Some gang life, she thought. Doing homework on the garage floor. All   
she needed now was for Gum to come in.  
The music was building up to a crescendo. Amy mouthed along with   
the words as she wrote. She liked the things that Jet Set Radio played. You   
could think while they were on, and some of them made her want to dance.  
Suddenly the music cut out.   
"Oh, great," Amy muttered. "Don't tell me I've broken it."  
She sat up a little, and then the music came back on.   
But it wasn't 'Let Mom Sleep.'   
A sharp operatic voice filled the garage with a swaying, eerie tune.   
Amy was puzzled. She'd never heard that before. But she decided she liked it,   
as underneath the singer came a quick, fast beat, and she picked up her pen and   
wrote twice as fast, not even thinking about her work now…  
Flip the rap, split the track, flip the rap, split the track, flip the rap, split   
the track –   
The music squeaked out a quick complex rhythm, like tap dancing feet,   
and then the opera came back. Amy's pen flew over the paper. The music was   
zigzagging over her skin. She didn't want it to stop.  
  
Tab opened the garage door, wondering if Amy would be there. He'd felt kind   
of guilty about letting Gum talk him into leaving her behind. So he'd said he'd   
go back and at least ask her if she wanted to come to Kogane. He could show   
her the rooftops. They were his favourite place there.   
He stepped inside, and his heart froze for a second.  
'Grace And Glory' was echoing around the garage. Tab went cold all   
over as the familiar tune taunted his ears.   
Then he saw Amy, lying on the floor, while that music surrounded her…  
Tab hurled himself across the room like a small blue bomb in a boiler   
suit, and slammed off the radio. Amy sat up, looking deeply hurt.   
"Tab!" she yelled. "How could you?"  
"That music's dangerous," Tab said, shivering. "What was it doing on   
Jet Set Radio?"  
"How can it be dangerous? It's just music!"  
"I don't trust it. It's Rhino music."  
Amy frowned. "Rhino music?"  
"You never hear of the Golden Rhinos?"  
Amy shook her head.  
"They were a gang of ruthless Asian killers. Run by the Rokkaku   
Corporation."  
"What, that company run by…" Amy thought. "Koji and Camilla?"  
"Yeah. Their dad, Goji, tried to summon a demon."  
"Yeah, right." Amy snorted.  
"I'm serious. It's true. Ask anyone you like. Anyway, he thought this   
old indie record could summon a demon. He sent the Golden Rhinos all over   
Tokyo-to looking for it. Found it in the end, tried to play it on top of the   
Rokkaku building. Us GGs stopped him. The Rokkaku building blew up, Goji   
was killed."  
"But what about the music?"  
"That music played while we fought Goji. It was the record. Professor   
K thought the record was a hoax, but I'm not so sure. That night seemed pretty   
warped. Anyway, I don't trust it."  
"Well, it hasn't done anything to me," Amy said. "Look, I've just been   
doing my homework –"  
She stopped, staring at the paper she'd been writing.  
About halfway down the page the neat notes stopped, and there was a   
drawing. A drawing of a happy, smiling, perky rhino in blue dungarees.  
"Shit," Tab said. Dread was creeping down his neck as he looked at the   
familiar picture. "Amy, why'd you draw that?"  
"I thought I was writing," Amy said. She'd gone pale. "Tab, I swear I   
have never seen that picture before in my life."  
"I believe you," Tab said. "It was the music."  
"But how?"  
"The Rokkaku Corporation had mind-control helmets. This could be the   
same sort of thing."  
"But – but why? Koji and Camilla –"  
"Insanity runs in the family," Tab said. "Someone's trying to reactivate   
a demon here."   
Amy swallowed. "Are you going to tell the others?"  
"You bet. They need to know. Last time we were Tokyo-to's only   
hope."  
Amy shivered, and looked down at the rhino's vacant grin.  
  
The other GGs clattered into the garage half an hour later. Tab rushed over to   
Beat, clutching Amy's homework, and began talking to him.   
Amy stood there, watching the others without seeing them. She was   
scared.   
She had been sure she'd been writing. Positive. And that music – it had   
taken over her brain, changed her actions – and she'd not known a thing until it   
had stopped.   
And she was angry.  
I've got enough people telling me what to do without music getting in   
on the case, she thought grimly.   
"Hey! Guys!" Beat yelled. "Listen up, we've got a rhino situation   
here!"  
He explained quickly what had happened. Amy watched the other GGs.   
Most of them looked worried, but Gum – it would be, Amy thought – Gum had   
a scornful look on her face.  
"Beat, hasn't it occurred to you schoolgirl here could be faking it?"  
"She said she'd never seen the rhino picture before. And even if she   
had, how'd she know that Grace and Glory was the rhino's tune?"  
"I don't know." Gum folded her arms and scowled. "But I still don't   
believe it."  
"Don't then," Tab said. "But I know what I saw. The rhinos are back."  
"Sure they are. Hey, Tab, you been inhaling paint fumes again?"  
Tab scowled. "This is not funny."  
"Who'd be bringing back the rhinos?" Gum said.  
"Ummm…let me think. Oh! Wait! Goji's son? Duh!" Tab folded his   
arms and smirked.  
"Goji's son – and his daughter as well – are being even more goody-  
goody than Amy is," Gum said. "I've seen them on TV. 'Oh, no, we're not   
evil demon summoners, we looooooove Tokyo-to and we're kind to animals,   
children and even rudies…' Oh, please. Sure, it's lame –"  
"Yeah, it's even lamer than that time Onishima tried to take a school   
assembly," Mew said.   
"Yeah, but they're not going to start broadcasting suspicious tunes, are   
they?"  
"They might," Tab said. "All the Rokkaku family are insane anyway."  
"Will you two shut up?" said Beat. "It may be nothing, but I think we   
should be careful for the next few days. Everyone tag in pairs, and only one of   
each pair can have Jet Set Radio on."  
The other GGs groaned.   
"Look, this is serious," Beat said. "We just got to see what happens."  
"Well, in case you hadn't noticed, oh, fearless leader," Gum said,   
"There are eleven of us now. I didn't finish school, but even I know that   
eleven people can't pair up properly."  
"Then one person can stay here," Tab snapped. "And no, it ain't gonna   
be Amy."  
"I'll stay," Slate said. "I gotta play on the pinball machine."  
"Slate – you are obsessed with that machine," Gum said scathingly.  
"No, I'm not. I just like playing it. It's cool."  
"Okay," Beat said as Slate went over to the machine. "Now, who's   
gonna pair up –"   
Suddenly he was cut off by a frenzy of bleeps. Slate yelled, "Yeah!   
Let's kick some butt!"  
"Will you shut up?" Gum yelled at him.  
"I'll go with Cube," Combo said.   
"Okay," Cube said, "but I'm having the radio on. If you get taken over   
by the Rhinos I don't want to have to try and stop you."  
"I'll go with Mew!" Yo-Yo said.  
"You will not!" Mew said.  
"Yes, he will." Beat grinned. "You guys can do Benten-cho. It is your   
home turf, after all."   
Mew glowered. "Well, I'm having the music, then. I need some   
distraction from you."  
"Done and done!" Yo-Yo punched the air.   
"I'll go with Piranha," Garam said. They went out together. "And I'll   
take the radio – I don't want to expose you to any danger," he said to Piranha.  
"Oh, Garam…" Piranha sighed deeply.  
"Oh, please…" Gum pretended to throw up.   
"I can go with Amy, then," said Tab, "and you can go with Gum."  
"Okay," Beat said. He and Gum had a turbulent relationship together.   
"Shall I have the music?" he said to Gum.  
"No. I'm gonna prove that there's nothing going on," Gum said. She   
glared at Amy. "Whatever you say."  
  
Tab and Amy were tagging a bus together. Amy was wearing Tab's   
wristwatch radio, and tagging to 'Recipe For The Perfect Afro.'   
She'd said she'd have the music because she'd never be able to catch   
Tab if he was taken over and dashed off to kill somebody or something, but she   
knew that wasn't her real reason.   
She loved 'Grace and Glory.' Even now the thought of it sent goose   
pimples down her back. She didn't like what it might do to her – obviously –   
but surely she'd be able to control it. Fight against it. Right?  
  
Combo watched as Cube tagged a wall in Kogane-cho. She was humming to   
the radio, a habit which normally drove him nuts but this time was reassuring.   
"Nothing happened yet?" he said.  
Cube shook her head. "No. Maybe they –"  
She stopped.   
"Cube?"  
The expression dropped out of her face.   
"Cube!"   
She turned her back on him, to face her tag again. She dropped the   
green paint can she was holding, and took out a yellow one.   
Combo shivered as she sprayed the outline of a new tag over her old   
one. It looked nastily familiar. As she filled in the grinning mouth, the perky   
eyes, the blue dungarees, he grabbed her, trying to stop her. She struggled,   
kicking out. One of her skates scraped down Combo's shin. He winced, but he   
refused to let go of her. Gripping her arms behind her back, he dragged her   
away from the wall and yelled, "Cube, snap out of it!"  
She didn't answer. He reached for her radio, trying to turn it off, and   
she managed to free one wrist from his grasp – turned, and punched him in the   
mouth. It didn't hurt that much, but it scared him. She'd never hit him before   
in her life.   
She broke away from him, and finished the tag. Then turned back to   
face him, and – click – her face fell back into its normal smile, and she said, " –   
decided to leave us alone."  
She looked at him more closely, and said, sounding concerned, "What   
happened to your face?"  
Combo tasted blood, and realised she'd split his lip. He said, "You   
happened to it."  
"Huh?"   
"Cube, you just went crazy." He put his hands on her shoulders and   
turned her round to face the rhino. "Look."  
"I didn't – I just said, they decided to leave us alone."  
"Halfway through that sentence you freaked. You tried to spray that tag.   
And when I tried to stop you, you hit me."  
"I'm sorry." Cube's hands were shaking. "I didn't notice it."  
"Well, Amy was right," Combo said. "The Rhinos are back."  
Cube had gone even whiter than normal. "I thought we got rid of   
them…" she whispered.   
"Hey, we did it before. We can do it again."  
"I hope." Cube shivered.  
  
Mew sprayed busily over a Benten-cho advert. Yo-Yo fixed his eyes on her   
body as she stepped from side to side, and grinned.  
Mew turned to face him. "Will you quit looking at me like that?"  
"Like what?"  
"Like I'm a banana and you're a monkey. It's making me nervous."  
"Hey, it's not my fault you're cute." Yo-Yo wolf-whistled as she turned   
back to her tagging, and she whirled round and hit him across the head. "You   
are so immature!"  
"Oh, hit me harder, baby," Yo-Yo said, ducking her next blow.   
"Shut up right now or I'll tag you until you can't –"  
She stopped.  
"Can't what? Can't see? Can't breathe? Can't eat bananas no more?   
Mew?"  
Mew turned her back on him, and carried on tagging.   
"Ah, come on, I was only joking around."  
Still silence.  
"Quit sulking on me, okay?"  
Still silence.  
"That's not even a very good tag –"  
He looked at it for the first time.  
"Shit!"  
He grabbed her wrist and turned off her radio.  
Mew's eyes rolled back in her head, and she fainted.   
"Mew? Mew?" Yo-Yo swallowed and looked down at her. She'd gone   
very pale. "Mew? Oh, crumbs…"  
  
Beat and Gum skated down the hill in Shibuya-cho. Gum felt her bad mood lift   
a little, but she was still annoyed. Amy was such an attention-seeker, and Tab   
kept following her around like a lost dog.   
Gum glowered. She was Tab's friend. Not some silly little schoolgirl   
who couldn't even skate.  
"What's wrong with you?" Beat said as they turned a corner. "You've   
got a face like you just saw Onishima naked or something."  
"Nothing. I'm just a little tense at the moment."  
"I know a remedy for that…" Beat kissed her.   
Gum leant against the wall, admitting to herself that Beat still knew how   
to float her boat. She kissed him back, as Jet Set Radio pounded its tunes   
through her body, keeping step with her accelerating heart.   
"Aren't we supposed to be tagging?" she said at last.   
"We will…"   
Gum laughed as he tried to kiss her again. "Come on, Casanova, let's   
move it." She enjoyed disappointing Beat. It meant he surprised her later on.  
Turning away from him, she began to spray the wall they'd been leaning   
on. Beat put his arms round her waist, kissed her jaw.   
Gum shivered, relishing the sensation. Her jawline had always been one   
of her hot spots.  
Suddenly the music changed.  
She looked down at the paint can in her hand. Yellow. Good.  
She raised her arm to paint, but something was stopping her…someone   
had pushed it back down, someone was talking to her…  
"Come on, Gum…" Beat's voice. Why couldn't she hear it properly?   
"Why don't…"  
It faded out. The music soared through her brain. Stop the obstacle.   
She curled one hand into a fist, moved to punch –   
What am I doing? I don't want to punch Beat. He's –   
Enemy. Stopping me tagging. Gum held onto that thought. It seemed   
so sane, so reliable. She began to paint.  
Someone's shouting. Not important.  
Of course it is! It's Beat, and he sounds mad with me. She opened her   
mouth to speak –   
No. Tag.  
Don't tell me what to do! Gum shouted at the voice in her brain. You   
can't…you can't…what had she been going to say?  
Not important. Tag. Tag. Tag. Tag.  
The music was carrying her higher and higher…   
Other sensation. Something she liked. Didn't she? She couldn't   
remember any more. She watched as her hand moved, almost of its own   
accord, tracing out a shape, a shape that seemed right…  
But that other feeling…  
Beat's kissing me. And I like it.  
No, you don't. It's not important.  
No, I don't…what am I saying?   
She was almost there, almost one with the music, almost completing that   
correct perfect shape…and something was holding her back.   
"Let go of me!" she shouted.  
"Gum? What's wrong with…"  
That voice. She liked it.   
No, you don't. Finish the tag. It needs to be finished.  
No, it doesn't! Gum struggled to stop painting, but she couldn't. Her   
hand wouldn't listen to her. She tried to cry out, but nothing happened…what   
was going on?   
Help me…  
Tag…  
No…  
Tag…  
I won't…  
Tag…  
No!  
Tag!  
The music slammed into her brain like a Poison Jammer's head, and she   
screamed…  
And then, as she took a breath, she realised things were back to   
normal…Professor K was chattering in the background…the sun was warm on   
her skin…Beat was looking into her eyes, his face horrified.  
"Gum, are you okay?"  
Gum blinked. She was sitting on the ground next to her tag, which was   
a horrible mishmash of her own Minty Cool Flavour and a cute, cuddly-looking   
rhino. "What happened?"  
"You went all quiet – didn't answer or nothing – and then you   
screamed."  
"I don't know – something went funny in my head – someone was   
telling me to do stuff – and I tried to stop and I couldn't…" Gum felt her   
mouth trembling, and pressed her lips together. She tried to speak, but she   
could feel a sob rising up her throat. "Oh, god…this is all I need…"  
"Hey, it's okay." Beat put an arm round her shoulders. "I guess it just   
proves Amy was right."  
Amy. Amy again. What was so great about the girl, anyway? "Fuck   
Amy!" Gum screamed. "Look, I'm fine, okay? Just stop patronising me!"  
"Okay. Sorry." Beat helped her to her feet. "We'd better get back.   
This will have affected the others too."  
Gum skated with him, annoyed to feel that she was trembling.   
  
Piranha wasn't spraying her tag. She was letting Garam kiss her against the   
wall of the abandoned factory in Kogane, and loving it.  
"Your radio's bugging me…" she whispered, kissing his forehead. She   
could hear Jet Set Radio playing, sounding like tap-dancing spiders. "Can't   
you turn it off?"  
"Gotta keep the experiment going," Garam said, laughing.   
"I like this experiment better…" Piranha felt the warmth of the bricks   
seep through her clothes, almost as warm as the feelings inside her.   
Suddenly Garam stopped kissing her. He pushed her away from the   
wall, and began to tag it.  
"Hey, what's your problem?" Piranha said. "I thought you were   
enjoying this!"  
He didn't answer. Piranha scowled. "Garam, what's wrong?"  
Still no reply. Piranha tried to block out memories of people freezing   
her out, people turning away…being left alone…  
She grabbed Garam's shoulders and pulled him away from the wall.   
Garam punched her in the stomach.  
Piranha doubled over, gasping for breath, and letting go of Garam.   
Through tears she saw him stroll back to his tag as though nothing had   
happened.   
Rage building up in her head, she grabbed him, one arm around his   
neck, and screamed, "What's wrong with you?"  
Garam grabbed her and pulled her off him, threw her against the wall,   
and his hands fastened round her throat.   
Piranha felt terror stab through her. Desperately she tried to pull his   
hands off her throat, but the fingers were like iron. Through the blackness   
covering her vision, she saw his face, looking blank, bored, like he did when he   
watched snooker on TV.   
She tried to breathe one more time, and then the view faded.   
  
Amy heard 'Recipe For The Perfect Afro' cut out, and she shivered. Any   
minute now – she opened her mouth to warn Tab, then closed it again. It   
couldn't hurt her, could it?  
The singer's voice echoed in her ears, and underneath swayed growls   
and the drone of a piano. Her feet yearned to dance. Through the sparks of   
music burning through her brain, she felt her hands shake a paint can, and   
begin to spray it.   
But part of her mind – the part that had shouted when she got hit, had   
asked Tab to paint her room – was saying, don't listen! It's just someone else   
trying to control you!  
But there was no one to hear it. Amy knew she could no more stop   
tagging than fly.   
Someone grabbed her arm. Fingers dug into her skin. Memories roared   
over her vision, blocking out the music – pain – humiliation – hunger –   
darkness –   
"Leave me alone!" she screamed, and pushed out at the person holding   
onto her.   
It was Tab. He stumbled back, and yelled, "Amy, it's the music! Don't   
listen to it! Turn off your radio!"  
Amy stood there, the bus station fading and collapsing around her. She   
put out an arm, to turn off the music, but it was dragged back to her side like a   
paperclip to a magnet. Tagging would be so easy…   
She looked at the tag she was doing. It was changing, one minute happy   
and perfect, the next scaring her. Biting her lip, she tried to stop her arm from   
rising to tag. The effort made her eyes water. And the music was roaring   
around her, dragging her down like a whirlpool.   
"I – I can't –" she said. It hurt to talk. It hurt to do anything but turn   
away and tag.  
"You've got to!"  
Amy tried to hold onto her anger, and onto her fear, and all the feelings   
that she knew were hers. But the more she tried to focus on them, the more   
they slipped away from her.   
"Don't do it, Amy!" The voice was slipping away from her too, as   
though she was falling. "You don't have to do it! You're nothing to do with   
those Rhinos! Let go of the paint!"  
Amy concentrated her whole mind on trying to break the hold her   
fingers had on the paint can. She couldn't move them.   
I am not going to let this happen! part of her mind shouted at her. Let   
GO!  
Amy's hand opened, and she heard the clatter as the paint can hit the   
pavement.   
With that clatter, the music rushed away from her, breaking up like   
shattered glass, fleeing from her ears – and then it was gone.  
Amy tried to move, and realised she could. The force holding her in   
place had gone. Shivering, she stumbled over to Tab. "Are – are you okay?"  
"I'm fine. You – you're bleeding."  
Amy licked her bottom lip. "I bit it, I guess." She shuddered, her legs   
suddenly feeling weak as cold tea, and couldn't stand properly. Tab caught   
her, and helped her sit down.  
"What did I paint?" she said.  
"You tried to do a rhino, I suppose, but you couldn't." He put an arm   
round her. "You're shaking."  
"You saved me…" Amy tried to think logically. "You grabbed me, and   
it made me remember my – it made me remember something bad happening,   
and I pushed you…"  
"And shouted 'Leave me alone.' That was you, was it – not the music?"  
"Yeah, and then I could see what was happening…I wasn't very strong   
though. I couldn't fight it."  
"Don't be dumb. You fought it pretty well, it seems to me."  
"Thanks." Amy suddenly became aware of how close he was to her,   
and felt herself blush. "Look – I – thanks."  
"That's okay."   
Amy looked at him. His face was inches from hers. There was silence.   
Then –   
"We'd better get back," Tab said. "I gotta see what's happened to the   
others."  
  
Garam was furious.   
I've got to tag, he thought. Why won't you let me? He felt his hands   
tighten round the enemy's throat. Why are you stopping me? Why?  
The music swept him along. Rage pulsed through Garam's veins.  
Then suddenly he felt it fade. The music cut out. The anger tensing his   
muscles drained away, and he relaxed, letting his hands open. Slowly Kogane-  
cho came back into view.  
And he saw Piranha lying at his feet, sobbing.  
"Piranha? What happened?" He'd just been kissing her. What had   
gone wrong?  
Piranha looked up, and Garam's stomach jumped at the look of terror on   
her face.   
"Piranha?" he said again. "Are you okay?"  
"Get away from me!" she screamed, jumping to her feet, and ran.   
"Piranha, wait!" He dashed after her. She reached the car pile, and   
jumped onto it, skates smashing ancient windscreens. As he made to jump on   
too, she turned and yelled down at him, "I never want to see you again!"  
Garam stopped. He felt hurt, but more than that, puzzled. What had he   
done? He ran over the sequence of events. He'd been kissing her. She'd   
asked him to turn his radio off. He'd said no. She'd made a joke about it.   
Then – then she'd been lying there, crying, and yelled at him. What had   
happened?  
Garam shivered, and began to skate back to the garage.  
  
In the garage the mood was tense. Mew had regained consciousness, but she   
still looked tired, and was dozing on the sofa. Piranha was still crying, and   
being comforted by Cube and Amy, both of whom looked worried. Gum was   
scowling, sitting by the pinball machine on her own. Combo was explaining to   
Slate what had happened. Yo-Yo was hovering around Mew. Tab was looking   
at Amy, Beat was trying to get everyone quiet, and Garam hadn't even arrived   
back yet.  
"Will you all shut up?" Beat yelled at last. "This is serious!"  
The GGs grudgingly stopped talking. Gum sighed. Her head ached.   
But she felt a small flicker of pride that apparently she'd been the only one   
who'd managed to fight the music.   
"Okay, right, I think we've proved that this music is dangerous, right?"  
Everyone nodded.   
"But at least we know what we're dealing with now. And we've learned   
more about it."  
"Like what?" Yo-Yo asked.  
"First of all, turning off the radio doesn't work. It just makes you black   
out. Right?"  
"Yep."  
"Secondly, you don't recognise anyone you care about –" Beat glanced   
nervously at Piranha. "So you could hurt them without realising it. Thirdly,   
you don't remember anything you did while the music played. Fourthly, you   
can fight the music if you tried, as Gum and Amy have found out –"  
"What do you mean, she found out?" Gum yelled, getting to her feet. "I   
found out!"  
"Cool it," Tab said. "You and Amy both managed to fight the music –   
you only did half your tag, and Amy hardly did one at all."  
"What?" Gum knew she was being stupid, but she couldn't help it.   
That girl had made her look dumb again. Great.  
"Gum, quit freaking out over this!" Tab glared at her. "Just leave Amy   
alone!"  
Gum's throat tightened with fury. He used to be on her side. He used to   
be her friend. And now he was mad with her. She turned to face Amy, and   
spat out, "Yeah, I'll leave her alone. She'll never be a GG, and she knows it.   
She's useless and the only reason she managed to beat that music was because   
she hasn't got the brains to like it –" Amy's eyes widened, and Gum felt mean   
pleasure as they filled with tears. "She's pathetic, a rudie wannabe, a wimp –"  
Tab shoved her. Gum swallowed as she saw how furious he looked.   
"Get out," he said. "Just get out."  
"You can't make me."  
"You're just being dumb. Get out and come back when you're sane   
again."  
"Fine!" Gum marched towards the door. As she opened it, she almost   
walked into Garam, who had been about to come in. He looked nervous. She   
hissed, "Don't bother, flyboy. Piranha hates your guts."   
And then she walked out into the empty street, slamming the door   
behind her. As she kicked a stone down the street, she forced back the tears.   
She wasn't going to let them see her cry.  
  
Back in the garage, Amy was thinking the same thing, furiously biting back the   
urge to howl.   
"Don't worry," Cube said. "Gum's just tense at the moment. She didn't   
mean all that stuff."  
Amy didn't believe that for a moment. Was that how they all thought of   
her? Not a proper GG? They were just humouring her?   
She, Piranha and Cube were all perched on the sofa, next to Mew, who   
was asleep still. Piranha had her face buried in her hands, and she was totally   
ignoring Garam, who was hovering nervously near the door.   
"Piranha…" he said at last.  
"Get away from me." Piranha's voice was muffled by her hands, but it   
sounded venomous. Mew opened her eyes.   
"Piranha, it was the music. You gotta believe me. Whatever I did, it   
must have been the music –" He stopped as Piranha rose from the couch like a   
striking cobra.  
"Do you know what you did?" she hissed at him.  
"No…"  
Piranha pointed to a bruise forming on her bare stomach. "First you   
punched me."  
"I – I didn't. Please believe me, I'd never –"  
"Then you put your hands round my throat." Piranha flicked back her   
hair, and Amy felt sick as she saw the bruises on the girl's cocoa-coloured skin.   
"You tried to strangle me, Garam. Now do you see why I don't want to be near   
you?"  
Garam was shaking. "I didn't mean to. Honest I didn't."  
"I don't care. I don't want to look at you."  
They stood, facing each other, Piranha tall and angry, Garam looking up   
at her pleadingly.   
"Please –"  
"Leave me alone."  
Garam turned, and dashed out of the garage.   
Piranha sighed, and then walked into the other room, slamming the door   
behind her.   
"Is there anything we can do to fight back?" Cube said at last. "If Amy   
and Gum managed to, then surely the rest of us can too."  
"I think you need to have something to hold onto that's part of you,"   
Amy said. "I mean, I was knocked out of it because Tab grabbed me, and that   
made me remember something that happened to me a few days ago, and   
stopped me going under. Did Gum have anything like that?"  
Beat blushed. "Well, I was kissing her at the time…" Yo-Yo wolf-  
whistled. "That might have had something to do with it."  
"So what, then – if someone goes under, snog them senseless?" Yo-Yo   
said. "Hey, Mew, you wanna come out with me again?"  
"Anything that they'll associate with something important in their life,"   
Beat said. "That right?" he asked Amy. She nodded.  
"But what we gonna do?" Combo said. "Carry on listening to Jet Set   
Radio or what?"  
"If we don't, we'll miss out on a lot of news," Tab said. "You know,   
stuff like 'the cops are staging a raid on Benten-cho, folks!' It could get   
tricky."  
"Does Professor K know what's happening?" Mew said, yawning.  
"He doesn't seem to," said Cube. "After the music stopped playing, he   
didn't say anything – no 'what happened there?' I think probably he just   
carries on talking and doesn't realise we're not picking it up."  
"Maybe we should tell him."  
"Okay. And we can work on resisting it. But everyone be careful,   
okay? This is dangerous stuff."   
Cube sighed. "Yeah." She flicked on the TV.  
"And now we go live to the Rokkaku building for a press conference   
with Koji and Camilla Rokkaku…"  
"Oh, turn it off!" snapped Mew.  
"No, leave it," Beat said. "Let's check them out."   
Amy watched as the camera showed the elegant siblings. Someone   
asked, "Mr Rokkaku, what is the motive behind your act of generosity to   
Tokyo-to?"   
Koji gave a charming grin, and replied, "My sister and I feel that the   
corporation have had a bad press in recent years…"  
"Well, duh!" Tab snapped.   
"This action is the first step in the long road to reconciliation between   
the corporation and the city."  
"Mr Rokkaku," another reporter said, "What is the real truth about your   
father's demise?"  
Without missing a beat, Koji replied, "He was killed in a construction   
accident."  
All the GGs snorted or rolled their eyes.   
"Why then do you feel that it is necessary to give a free video recorder   
or computer to everyone in this city?"  
"Free video or computer? Cool!" Mew said.  
"Because I am well aware that there are some rumours circulating in   
Tokyo-to about my late father's actions prior to his death, and in giving these   
free items I wish to show that the Rokkaku corporation wishes nothing but   
good for Tokyo."  
Amy tried to see whether the man was sincere or not, but it was very   
hard to tell. He could be lying, she thought…or he could be just trying to suck   
up.   
Mew flicked off the television. "Well, what do you think?" she said to   
Beat.  
"I don't know. He seems pretty concerned with trying to make the   
company look good. Would he really do something like this now? It could   
screw up the whole corporation."  
"But not many people know what actually happened," Cube said. "Not   
those who matter, anyway. Maybe he's just trying to stop us blabbing."  
"Do you think he knows we know about Goji?" Tab said.  
"Dunno." Beat leaned back on the sound system. "He must know a   
group of rudies had something to do with it. But if it is him, how'd he find out   
about Jet Set Radio? I mean, come on. Italian suits and big cars – he's not   
exactly the type to listen to it."  
"Nor's Amy," Cube said. "No offence meant."  
"But I only found out about it after you guys let me join. It's not an   
easy frequency to pick up."  
"Maybe it's not just us," Tab said. "Maybe the whole city's getting   
splurged with rhino-music."  
"If it has the same effects, surely someone would have said something?"   
Amy said. "I mean, people hitting each other and stuff. And it wouldn't work   
in the same way with the general public – we make pictures all the time so   
we're bound to seem like we support the Rhinos. If people end up drawing   
rhinos in guest books or letters they'll just think they're going crazy."  
"Talking of the Rhinos, what happened to them afterwards?" Combo   
said.   
"I think a lot of them got sent to jail," Beat said. "But some of them are   
still out there. If Koji did want to regroup them he could do it."  
"And he's got the money to buy anyone out of jail that he wants."  
"Well, who else would want to reanimate the Rokkaku plot?" Amy said.   
"Noise Tanks or Poison Jam or Love Shockers might do it as a joke, or   
to try and scare us so they could attack…" Mew said.  
"Not Poison Jam or Love Shockers," Tab said. "They ain't smart   
enough for this. Noise Tanks maybe – but why? What's the point?"  
"It's not immediately obvious that it's them doing it," Cube said. "And   
they are getting to us, right?"  
"Maybe we should ask them what's going on." Beat yawned.   
"Anyway, I'm getting tired. Let's think about it some more tomorrow."  
"What time is it?" Amy's heart sank.  
"Half-eight. Why?" Tab looked at her.  
"My aunt's gonna kill me!" Amy's mouth went dry with fright. "I've   
got to get back – sorry –"  
"I'll walk you home," Tab said. They got up and left the garage.  
  
Gum was standing in an alleyway in Benten-cho, sulking. She knew she was   
acting like a kid, but she hadn't had to cope with friendship blues for some time   
and she'd forgotten how angry she could get.  
It was a cold night. She shivered, wrapping her arms round herself. She   
wished someone would offer her sympathy for once. But no – it was always   
her fault because it was always her who lost her temper.   
She was about to put on her radio, but then thought better of it. Being   
lynched by the Noise Tanks for spraying rhinos on their turf would be the   
perfect ending to a really sucky day.   
Light rushed over Gum's face as a car passed the alleyway. She sighed.   
She knew it wasn't a great idea to be hanging around in a place like this, but   
she couldn't think of anything else to do. She just wanted to hide in the   
darkness and forget that everyone hated her.  
Suddenly she heard footsteps at the alley entrance. She squinted in the   
darkness. There were three figures standing there, watching her.  
"What do you want?" she snapped, trying to calm down her panicking   
heartbeat. "I'm not selling anything, if that's what you're after."  
They came closer. Gum forced herself not to step away. They weren't   
Noise Tanks – weren't rudies at all, there was no hiss of skates – but that was   
all she could tell.  
Until another car rushed past them, and neon light glinted for an instant   
on sunglasses – black suits – shiny shoes – Gum's stomach flipped. The   
Golden Rhinos. It couldn't be. But it was.   
"That's the kid," one of them said to the others.  
The exact same words. Gum froze. She had to run, she had to, she had   
to – but her legs wouldn't listen. They'd obviously decided to stay still and   
hide and hope nobody saw them.   
Suddenly they dashed towards her. Gum tried to skate away, but she   
collided with one of them. Stumbling back, she saw a knife blade spark in the   
moonlight. Then, before she could even panic, the shadowy Rhino had moved   
towards her – she felt something shove into her ribs – and she fell – and saw   
blood spreading out over her minidress, black in the darkness.  
  
(Thank you for reading – what do you think? All feedback accepted! R+r!)  



	4. There May Be Trouble Ahead

Chapter 03 – There May Be Trouble Ahead  
  
(Thank you to everyone who r+r'd the last chapter – please repeat your good   
deed here! The only thing I own in this chapter is the character of Amy.   
Everything else is © Sega as you full well know. R+R!)  
  
Amy and Tab walked through Benten-cho together. Already some of the   
discos and cafés were beginning to light up, and the streets were slowly   
becoming bright and cheerful.   
Amy walked, shoulders down, brow crumpled with worry. Tab watched   
her. He'd asked her what was wrong but she'd just said "Nothing."   
He didn't like Amy being scared. He was surprised to realise it. Sure,   
he didn't like any of his friends being scared, but this was different. He felt   
more protective of her. If he felt protective of Gum, she'd probably bite him.  
Where was Gum, anyway? He felt a little guilty about sending her out   
like that, but he'd been so mad he couldn't think straight. Well, he'd make it   
up with her later.  
They reached Amy's house. Even with the lit windows of the   
surrounding buildings, it still looked dingy and miserable. Amy swallowed.   
"Okay. See you tomorrow."  
"Sure."   
Tab made like he was skating away, but as she turned to knock on the   
door, he stopped, ducked behind a lamppost, and watched.   
Amy stood on the doorstep, and suddenly the front door flew open and a   
woman's voice spat out, "So there you are. Thought you'd decide to grace this   
house with your presence tonight, huh?"  
"I'm sorry. I forgot to look at the time." Amy was staring at her feet.   
Her voice was blank.  
"Well, you aren't going to forget again." The woman's hand lashed out   
and caught Amy on the side of the face. She stumbled. The woman hit her   
again, and Tab conquered the urge to rush up and slap the bitch himself.  
"Come on." She grabbed Amy's arm and dragged her inside. The door   
slammed shut.  
Tab shivered. He crept round to the front of the house, and peered in   
through the living room window. The curtains weren't drawn, and he saw   
Amy fall back against the sofa as the woman - her aunt? – hit her again. Both   
of them were shouting, but he couldn't hear what they were saying.   
He had to help her. But he couldn't.  
He saw Amy's face whiten as her aunt grabbed her shoulders and   
pushed her into the wall. Tab winced as Amy's head struck the white-painted   
surface. She staggered, then turned and ran out of the room. Her aunt didn't   
follow her – instead she sank down on the sofa and began to cry.  
Tab stepped back from the house and looked up at Amy's bedroom   
window. It was still broken. Quickly he hurried up the steps, jumped and   
ground along the banister, and then up onto the phone line, and then, ducking   
the jagged glass, into her room.  
Amy was lying on her bed, sobbing. Tab felt his heart swell with some   
emotion he couldn't name. Nervously he touched her shoulder.  
Amy sat up quickly, fists clenched. Her eyes widened. "What are you   
doing here?"  
"I came to see how you were." He felt rage fill him again as he saw the   
blood trickling from her lip.   
"I wish you hadn't," Amy snapped.  
"Why?"   
"Well, how does it look to you? You're a GG, a rudie, and I'm just   
lying here crying my eyes out – oh, yes, really cool!"  
"Don't be dumb. You just got knocked around."  
"It's nothing, okay?" Amy snarled. Her eyes were damp and red.   
"She's just stressed and – and it's nothing I can't handle."  
"That's what I thought too."  
"Huh?"  
Tab looked away from her, out at the glittering horizon. "My mum   
moved in with a guy who beat me up. He didn't like kids, I guess. I thought I   
could handle it. I knew a bunch of other kids, we all acted tough around each   
other. I couldn't have told them. One night, he broke my arm, and I walked   
out. Never went back."  
"I'm sorry," Amy said.  
Tab kept his gaze focused away from her. It was hard to talk about this,   
but he didn't know what else to say to convince her. "I never told anyone else   
about it. Gum knew 'cos I went to her house, the night I left. She knew who   
did it but I never spelt it out to her."  
"But you got really hurt. I'm just going through a bad patch, that's all."   
Amy's voice wobbled a little. Tab turned to look at her, and put his hand in   
hers.   
"Look. She's hurting you. Right?"  
"Yeah…"  
"If she's trying to control you by hitting you, she has a discipline   
problem, right?"  
"I guess so."  
"So don't worry. Just tell someone. Hey, I'm not encouraging you to   
run away or nothing. Just tell someone and get her put away where she   
belongs."  
Amy didn't answer. She sat a little closer to him, and they studied the   
Benten skyline together.  
"Tab," Amy said at last.  
"Yeah?"  
"Am I really only a rudie wannabe?"  
"Oh, Amy…look, Gum's in a bad mood at the moment for some reason.   
I don't know why. She just took it out on you, okay? No one thinks you're   
any of the things she said. You're a great gang member."  
"Stop humouring me," Amy said.  
"I'm not. Ask any of 'em."   
"I don't know if you're right, but thanks."  
"That's okay." Tab could feel her trembling next to him, and he   
tentatively put an arm around her. She didn't seem to mind, just leaned back   
against him a little. He was surprised to find that it was a nice position to be in.  
"Tab, why did you say you don't think I should run away? You did, and   
so did all the other GGs."  
"It's not all fun and games. If I hadn't managed to join up with Gum   
and Beat things would've been worse. You're a nice girl. I don't want you   
ending up like – like a Love Shocker or something."  
"That's hardly likely."  
Tab looked down at her. Her eyes were wide, large grey eyes that   
seemed beautiful in the faint city-glow touching her face.   
Quickly he bent his head and kissed her.   
At first she tensed up, almost tried to turn away, but then she relaxed.   
When they separated she was blushing. "Why did you do that?"  
"I wanted to. Sorry if it bugged you."  
"Oh – no. No, it didn't do that."  
  
Garam skated furiously through Benten-cho, angry with himself, angry with   
Piranha, angry at everything.   
What had he done? He couldn't have hit her or strangled her. He just   
couldn't. He wasn't that sort of guy.  
But you were once, weren't you? a voice taunted him.   
Garam skated faster, but he couldn't dash away from the memories   
wriggling into his brain.   
Meryl had been his first girlfriend, when he'd still been in school. He'd   
never been part of the popular pack – instead, he'd got a reputation as someone   
a bit wild, someone who always took you up on a dare, someone who didn't   
give a damn what anyone else thought.  
Garam felt sick as he pictured himself then. He'd been so sure of   
himself, so certain that he was the man. Well, he'd been wrong, hadn't he?   
Dead wrong.  
Meryl hadn't been wild. She'd been a quiet kid, the sort of girl who just   
watches. Small and delicate, with golden hair and a charming smile, Garam   
had fallen for her very quickly. He'd tried to pretend it was nothing, of course.   
Wouldn't do for the wild guy to show he actually had a heart.   
But in the end, he'd admitted it to himself, and asked her out.   
For a few weeks everything had been great. He'd been so happy he'd   
even stopped goofing around. And then – then he'd started listening to his   
mates, and he'd started to wonder himself why him and Meryl hadn't slept   
together. When he'd put it to her, she'd told him she didn't want to, that she   
didn't feel ready. He'd tried to accept it, but he hadn't found it easy.  
And eventually the teasing got too much, and he told the guys that he   
and Meryl had done the deed. And then everything had been all right again.   
For a day or so.   
And then Meryl had confronted him. "Why did you tell everyone we'd   
had sex?" she'd demanded.  
"Cos that's what people wanted to hear. Where's your problem?"  
She'd actually laughed. "My problem? Do you know what people have   
been saying about me? It's all right for you, you're 'da man.' Whereas I'm   
just a slut. Thanks a lot!"  
"Well, I didn't know they'd do that," he'd said, feeling hurt, knowing he   
should apologise but not knowing how.  
"We're finished!" she'd shouted.  
People had stopped, looked at them, some had tittered. And – and he'd   
lost it –   
Garam closed his eyes, but he couldn't hide the picture he had of his   
hand flying round, slapping Meryl across the face – and she'd fallen, the   
schoolbooks she'd been carrying spilling across the floor – Algebra Key Skills,   
To Kill A Mockingbird, Understanding Chemistry – and then that sickening   
sound as her head struck the locker behind her – and people screaming –  
She'd not died. Just gone into a coma. Just. Garam snorted. He'd seen   
her, once, lying there in hospital, and thought, well, if she ain't dead she sure   
looks like it – and then the view had blurred with tears and he'd left before   
anyone saw him.  
Her brother and his friends had beaten him up good. He remembered   
fists slamming into his stomach, his face, feet catching his ribs to roll him over   
and over and over – he'd been powerless, he knew it, and that anger joined the   
smouldering rage building up inside him against the unfairness of the world…  
He'd quit school, become a rudie, and now here he was, back to square   
one. It was no good, was it? He was still the same old damaged freak he'd   
always been. Still hurting.   
Garam blinked, and realised while thinking he'd skated into the   
backstreets of Benten, where he wasn't at all sure he wanted to be. He was   
about to turn round, skate out again, when suddenly he heard someone calling.  
"Help…help me…"  
A girl. Sounded familiar. Garam looked around, and saw a crumpled   
figure lying in an alleyway on his left. He called out, "Who are you?"  
Silence. Garam wondered if it was a trap – but the girl looked pretty   
bad. Maybe he'd just go and see. Anyway, if he didn't, they'd know he didn't   
care about anything.  
He stepped inside the alleyway, and bent over the girl.  
It was Gum.   
Garam looked in horror at the blood that had soaked into her dress.   
She'd blacked out now. Quickly he checked her breathing and pulse, trying to   
keep calm. They were both there, but shallow and weak.   
He wanted to shake her, try to get her all right again, but common sense   
held him back. He had to call an ambulance. How long had she been lying   
there? He didn't know, but she didn't look good.   
After he'd made his phone call, he headed back to the alley, to stay with   
her. He sat down next to her, hoping she'd be able to hold on. Boy, he   
thought, what did she do to the Noise Tanks now?  
He let his eyes wander round the alley. Grimy posters covered its walls   
like a second skin. Many were faded and torn by the rain and the weather, but   
a few were new and neat. A pop concert ad – a flyer for some new mayor –   
and – Garam's mouth fell open as he stared at the next poster.  
It was a cute, happy golden rhino.  
He looked from it to Gum, and made the connection. Those murderers   
carried switchblades. Gum was a rudie. And now this was a warning…  
He had to tell the others, as soon as possible.   
  
Beat listened as Garam stumbled out his story.  
"The ambulance came?" he said, surprised at how calm his own voice   
sounded.  
"Yeah. They said if I'd found her any later it would've been too late."   
Garam didn't sound relieved, or proud. He sounded like he was sick of it all.  
"She's in Shibuya General," Garam continued. "I don't know if they'll   
call the cops. She's in a pretty bad way. But Beat, there was something   
else…"  
"What?"   
"A Golden Rhino poster had been put up on the wall next to her."  
"So they are back." Beat tried to focus on that fact so that he could   
forget that any minute now they might get a call saying that Gum had – he   
faced the next word head on – died.   
"Seems like it."   
"I'll go see her soon as I can." Beat looked round the garage. Piranha,   
Tab and Amy were all absent, but everyone else was there. "Listen," he said.   
"Be careful. There's something big going on. Tell the other three when you   
next see them. Now I'm going out."  
Outside it was drizzling rain. Beat skated along, moving faster and   
faster, trying to outrun the urge to scream out his fear and fury to the black,   
spitting sky.   
  
The next day all the GGs had heard the news – Gum was in hospital, and the   
Rhinos were back.   
"Who's brought them back, though?" Mew said as she and Beat skated   
through the bus terminal.  
"I don't know." Beat began tagging a bus. "Koji?"  
"What about Onishima?"  
The line Beat was painting leapt out of the pattern and across Mew's   
chest as he turned. "Huh?"  
Mew glowered at him and tried to rub off the paint. "Onishima and Goji   
tried to wipe us out before. It sounds like those Rhinos were looking for Gum   
– no one else has been hurt. Could this be a new police idea?"  
"Onishima wants to drag us through court and into Alcatraz just so he   
can see us squirm." Beat hurled paint onto the bus as he spoke. "Just stabbing   
us in alleyways doesn't seem his style – and he wouldn't get any of the credit,   
remember."  
"I guess so." Mew sighed. "Are the new Rokkakus supporting the 21st   
Century Project?"  
"They said something about it…" Beat thought. "Oh, yeah…   
'Although this town has a problem with vandalism, we feel that violence is not   
the answer…blah, blah…although we support the work of the police force in   
suppressing the wave of graffiti-related crime, the company is turning its   
attention to other matters.' So I'd say no."  
"Onishima's still using tear gas and paratroopers, though."  
"Maybe they're still giving him funding. Anyway, it doesn't matter.   
We beat those dumb Rhinos before and we can do it again."  
"Yes. But I sure hope the assassins don't turn up," Mew said.  
  
The GGs took turns sitting with Gum. She was unconscious at the   
moment, but expected to wake some time in the next few days. They sat with   
her partly because they were the only family she had, and partly because no   
one knew whether Onishima knew where she was, so she needed protection.  
And now it was Amy's turn.  
Gum was in a room on her own. It was a hot day, with sunlight   
covering everything. Amy had rolled up her sleeves and she was wearing ankle   
socks rather than tights. She'd brought her homework to do, but she wasn't   
really concentrating on it.  
Gum lay there, breathing in time to the soft beep of her heart monitor.   
Her hair was tangled into gold knots, and she was pale. Amy wondered if she   
was ever going to open her eyes. It was funny. She'd always thought she'd be   
jubilant if Gum quit the GGs, but now she couldn't think that. Not seeing her   
enemy like this.   
The clock in the room was out of step with the heart monitor, and Amy   
itched to throw it out of the window. She had been pretty jumpy since Tab had   
filled her in on exactly what the Rhinos were like. And if they'd taken Gum   
out, Amy knew she'd be hopeless against them.   
She yawned again, closing her eyes, and when she opened them, Gum   
was looking at her.  
Amy blinked, wondering if she'd dozed off, but no – the blonde GG was   
awake. "What am I doing here?" she demanded.  
"You got stabbed," Amy said. "You've been in a coma for ages. We   
were all really worried."  
"Oh." Gum looked round the room. Amy saw her sigh, and she said,   
"Sorry, none of the others are here right now."  
"Great." Gum rolled her eyes. "How long are you here for?"  
"Till five o'clock. It's half-four now."  
"Oh, no."   
"What is your problem?" Amy snapped.  
Gum gave her a long, cool look. "You don't deserve to be a GG.   
Sorry."  
"Why not?"  
"You just don't have any talent. You're dumbing down our entry   
standards." Gum's voice was dry, but there was harshness behind it.  
Amy forced down the urge to shout insults. Making her voice steady,   
she said, "If I could prove I had talent?"  
"And how would you do that?"  
"I don't know." Amy swallowed. Here goes. "Set me a task. One that   
I can do without skates."  
"Okay." Gum closed her eyes for a minute. Amy could see shadows   
under them, and felt a little guilty for picking a fight so soon. But it wasn't like   
she'd started it.  
"I've got it," Gum said. "Shibuya High School."  
"Yes?"  
"It's got a clock on the front, hasn't it? On a small tower."  
"Yes…" Amy's stomach sank.  
"Tag the clock. What day is it today?"  
"Tuesday."  
"Okay. Tag it by Friday. If you do, I'll quit getting at you."  
"If I don't?"  
"You quit the GGs. Any of us could do it, so if you can't, you're not   
meant to be one."  
"Fine." Amy swallowed. She could picture the place Gum meant. She   
didn't know how she was going to do this, but she knew one thing.   
She had to succeed.   
  
When she got back to the garage, only Tab was there. For a moment she felt   
nervous of him, but then he looked up and grinned at her, and it was all right   
again.   
"Hi," she said, coming across to sit next to him. "Gum's awake."  
Tab looked relieved, and Amy felt absurdly jealous. "That's great," he   
said. "She's gonna be okay, then, right?"  
"Sure she is." Amy tried to keep the sarcastic note out of her voice.  
"Here – I got something for you," Tab said, scrabbling around in his   
pockets. "It's just, like, a little thing, but…you know…anyway, here you are."  
He handed her a small, rather battered-looking jewellery box. Amy   
opened it. Inside was a delicate silver pendant – the letters 'GG' on a silver   
chain.  
"Oh, thank you!" Amy hugged him. "It's beautiful – where did you get   
it?"  
"I knew a guy who makes stuff like this for guys like us," Tab said,   
kissing her. "I just thought you might like it."  
"Of course I do! Help me put it on."  
She shivered as she felt Tab's fingers brush her skin while he fastened it   
round her neck. As she hugged him again, the stress generated by Gum's   
challenge almost faded, but she knew it would soon return. Now Tab had   
shown her he thought she might be able to handle this whole gang thing, and   
she couldn't let him down.   
  
On Thursday night there was a school concert. Amy attended. She had asked   
her aunt for permission, and got it with only a few scratches. Now she stood   
outside Shibuya High School in the darkness, clutching her school bag with her   
paint cans in it, and thinking.  
She could see how a skater would do it. Grind along the wall, jump,   
wall ride off the science block, fly past the clock, tag, and drop. Simple.  
For her this would require more thinking.   
She was pretty sure there was no way up into the tower on which the   
clock rested. They'd never been allowed up there, and besides, even if she got   
into the tower she wouldn't be able to get out to the front of it.   
No, she'd have to climb up from the outside.  
She blessed her choice of clothing – jeans and top and trainers – and   
then surveyed the empty playground again.  
There was a ledge under the clock which she could stand on. Good.   
The tower itself rose up from the main building, towering above the porch of   
the main entrance. She could stand on that…but it was still too high to reach   
the clock or the ledge.  
Think, Amy! she berated herself. She could see nothing which she   
could take up onto the porch – nothing she could stand on to make herself   
taller…  
Then she looked from the wall to the science block to the tower, and an   
idea formed in her brain.  
  
Gum lay there, wishing she could open a window and let in some fresh air to   
get rid of this stench of antiseptic. It was making her nose ache.   
All the GGs had come to see her earlier, and she longed to get out and   
go back to them. But the doctors said she had to stay here, so no dice. Beat   
had been the last to leave. Gum realised she missed him already. He'd looked   
so dweeby strolling through Shibuya-cho when they first met. Who'd have   
thought they'd end up like this?  
Get a grip, she told herself. The GGs are in serious shit and you're   
being lovesick! Please!  
The Rhinos.  
She still couldn't remember what had actually happened. She'd been   
kicked out of the garage by Tab, gone down to Benten-cho, skulked – and then   
– yes, something had happened, but she couldn't – didn't want to? – think   
about what it was. But Garam had told her there'd been a rhino poster, and   
she'd definitely been stabbed, and there'd been all the trouble with music so…  
Gum glanced out of the window at the dark sky, and shivered. What if   
they came back to finish her off…what if…  
She felt her breathing quicken, and heard her heart monitor speed up.   
Calm, she told herself. Calm. No one cares about rudies dead in backstreets,   
but there might be a bit of an outcry if someone's sliced in a hospital. And they   
know that.  
She tried not to think about what might happen to her friends.  
She was a little worried about Onishima too – lying here, skateless, bed-  
ridden and dependent on others for everything she felt extremely vulnerable,   
but tonight she at least knew where he was. He'd gone to a school concert at   
one of the Tokyo-to schools, and then he'd probably talk to the headteacher   
about How To Spot A Rudie In Your Classroom.   
Thinking of schools made her remember Amy. What was it about the   
girl that got to her? Gum didn't know, but soon she'd be rid of her. No way   
would she be able to tag that clock. The rudies mainly left the school alone – it   
was kind of embarrassing tagging it, but Gum was positive that Amy wouldn't   
be able to do it without skates. Well, almost positive.   
Beat had told her they now only listened to Jet Set Radio when   
necessary. This was making for some pretty close shaves, but it was the only   
thing to do. They'd told Professor K, but he had no way of stopping the   
interruptions. And the rival gangs had denied all knowledge of the music or   
anything connected with it.  
Gum lay back and tried to sleep, but she still felt nervous. She could   
hear footsteps outside her room, voices, bleeps and clicks of various life-  
support machines and a baby crying. It was going to be a long night.   
  
Amy tried not to look down.   
She was crouched on the sill of one of the windows in the science block,   
which she'd reached from the wall. Now she reached out and rested her hands   
on the next windowsill along, and slithered until she could get her whole body   
onto it. The wind seemed stronger up here, she seemed heavier, and the ground   
seemed very, very far away.  
One window down. Two to go.  
She gripped onto the sill, digging her nails into the mossy surface,   
wondering who would care if she fell.  
Another window passed successfully. Amy tried to ignore her frantic   
heartbeat. She'd told none of the GGs where she was going. Now she wished   
she had.  
There, she'd done it. She crouched on the last windowsill. The tower   
was about three feet away from her. The ledge was on a level with her ribs.   
She swallowed, prayed she wouldn't die, and jumped.   
For a moment she was falling – then she grabbed hold of the ledge –   
hung there – then pushed herself onto it, gritting her teeth, feeling the rough   
edge scrape her shins.   
She was up. Quickly she pulled her bag off her back and took out the   
paint, and began to tag. The clock was an antique-looking one, with Roman   
numerals, and as she covered it with paint, for a moment she felt – silly –   
immature – then she remembered that she'd be kicked out if she couldn't do   
this, and fought down the feeling.  
Suddenly, below her, she heard the door open, and her headmistress's   
voice saying, "…A pleasure to have you here, Captain."  
"That's all right, Miss Ichijouji."  
Onishima. Amy cursed silently above them. She'd nearly finished the   
tag, though…hopefully they'd go soon – but what if they saw her?  
"I'm glad I could be of assistance," Onishima continued. Amy quickly   
finished the tag while he was speaking, hoping he'd block out the sound of   
spraying.   
Then – to her horror – she felt the ledge tremble underneath her.  
No, no, please don't, she implored it, realising she must have weakened   
the stone by pulling herself up onto it. She tried to stay absolutely still.   
The voices were getting fainter. If only one of them didn't turn round –   
see the tag – but Miss Ichijouji would be coming back into the building soon –   
oh, shit!  
Suddenly the ledge dropped, and Amy dropped with it.   
The ground punched the breath out of her, and sent a sharp pain up her   
leg. She saw Miss Ichijouji turn, begin to hurry towards her – and Onishima   
too – and the tag glowing in the darkness –   
As she struggled to her feet, Miss Ichijouji grabbed her wrist, and called,   
"Captain, it's a rudie – look, the clock!"  
Onishima was running towards them. Amy's heart sank.  
"What on earth do you – Amy Winters!" Miss Ichijouji's mouth   
dropped open.  
Amy's heart sank even further. Now she was for it. She was still   
clutching her paint can. She'd been caught red-handed.   
Onishima rushed towards her, and grabbed both her wrists, staring into   
her face. Then he said, "I don't know this one – I'm assuming you want me to   
press charges, madam?"  
"Yes – yes – oh, Amy, how could you? I thought you were the last sort   
of girl to engage in such destructive behaviour!" Her headmistress sighed   
angrily. "Well, I hope you realise that you will not be returning to Shibuya   
High School after this."  
"You're expelling me?" Amy said. She shivered. Her aunt would kill   
her.  
Onishima slipped handcuffs onto her wrists and said, "Get used to it,   
rudie. Now move it."  
Amy struggled as she was dragged towards the waiting police car, but it   
was no use. She was caught.  
She didn't even want to think about what the GGs would say.  
  
(Well? What did you think? Please r+r and make a poor little English girl   
happy!)  
  
  



	5. Doing Time

Chapter 04 - Doing Time  
  
Tab looked at his watch. It was pretty late. Where was Amy? She'd gone out   
earlier, saying she'd be back soon, but it was now half-ten at night and there   
was no sign of her.   
He'd been thinking about her all day, trying to hide the dreamy look on   
his face from the other GGs. It wasn't just that he'd enjoyed kissing her. He   
liked the way she talked, the way she seemed to think, the way she was so   
totally not the sort of girl he'd expect to exchange friendly words with, let   
alone, well, like.He'd felt like king of the world when she'd been so happy   
with that necklace.  
But where was she now?  
  
Amy sat in the police station, wondering if she'd accidentally walked into a   
movie. The dusty bulb above her blazed dull white light into her eyes, making   
them ache. She was still handcuffed, and her wrists were sore. And Onishima   
was sitting facing her, with a desk between them.   
He'd taken down her name, age, and so on, and Amy knew that soon the   
real questions would start. If he learnt that she was a member of the GGs,   
she'd be in real trouble. She couldn't betray them, she couldn't - so her only   
hope was to act like a rebellious high-school brat.  
"So which gang do you belong to?" Onishima demanded.  
Amy shrugged. "Look, I'm not a rudie. I don't skate or anything. I just   
wanted to show off a bit, okay? I don't know anything about all this gang   
stuff."  
"Yeah, right."   
"It's true! All the other kids would've seen the clock, wouldn't they?   
That gives anyone a buzz. I just did it because I felt like it." She put a little   
fear into her voice. "It was a bit of fun, okay?"  
"Sure. A bit of fun that's gonna put you in juvenile hall for a nice long   
time - unless you play fair. Anyone who helps the police gets their jail time   
reduced."  
"How do you mean, help the police?" Amy tried to keep her voice -   
and her thoughts - calm. Thinking about being expelled, facing a prison   
sentence and being in real big trouble would just lead to hysteria.  
"I mean spilling any info you got on any accomplices."  
"I don't have any accomplices, why won't you believe me?" Amy   
snapped. "Not everyone does, you know!"  
"So where'd you learn that tag, then?"  
Amy swallowed. Why hadn't she used one of the tags she'd made up?   
But no - she'd done one of Gum's, just to show that bitch that she wasn't the   
only rudie on the planet.  
"I copied it."  
"From who?"  
"I don't know! It was on a wall somewhere, I liked it, I practised   
drawing it, and then I painted it. No one taught it to me or anything." That at   
least was true. Gum was going to smush her when she found out her tag had   
been borrowed. But that was the least of the problems now.  
"You're a pretty good tagger for someone who's just 'copied' a tag."  
"I'm a natural artist," Amy snapped.  
Suddenly she realised something. She and Onishima had met before -   
when she'd done her diversionary tactics she'd often run into him/screamed at   
him/fainted on him. If he recognised her, her cover would be blown.  
"I can't even skate," she said. "Do you think any rudie gang would be   
interested in me?"  
Onishima stood up. "I think you're a member of a gang I've known a   
long time, and I think you're gonna admit that sooner or later. But I'll leave   
you to think it over for a bit." He pulled her up, looked her quickly over and   
said, "Take off your trainers."  
"Why?"   
"You're not allowed anything in your cell that you could hang yourself   
with, though frankly I couldn't care less if you did decide to end it all. It'd   
give me some peace."  
"And put you out of a job," Amy said as she undid the laces of her   
trainers and kicked them off.  
"And that necklace too," Onishima said, apparently ignoring the jibe.  
Tab's necklace. Tab's necklace with 'GG' round her neck. Tab's   
necklace that would be #1 on the Incriminating Items list. Amy said, carefully,   
"I can't hang myself with that."  
"I don't care what you can hang yourself with, you got to take it off.   
Now get moving or I'll rip it off you."  
Heart pounding, Amy reached round and undid the clasp of the   
necklace. Pinching the two Gs between her fingers, she laid it on the captain's   
desk, taking care to place the chain over the letters.   
"If you lose this I'll sue," she said, turning away from it.  
"Oh, please. You'll have no use for jewellery where you're going."   
Amy focused on the dark wall a few feet away from her, willing him not   
to look closely at the necklace.   
"It's not even that pricey - just a cheap little pendant -"  
He stopped.  
"So what?" Amy said, speaking angrily to cover the sinking feeling in   
her stomach. "I didn't ask you to start being a fashion cop as well."  
"If your name was Gertrude Grummler," Onishima said slowly, in the   
tones of one who knows he could be holding the winning lottery ticket, "then I   
could see why you got this thing. But Amy Winters? Doesn't add up to me."  
"Of course it doesn't. A friend gave it to me, okay?   
Ummm...Grizelda...Griswold. She moved away and gave this to me as a   
memento. What's it to you, anyway?"  
"I think you know, honey. Now come on. Come clean. It's not like it'll   
do you any harm. Just tell me the truth."   
"I already have."  
"Like hell you have."  
"Why would I lie to you?" Amy snapped. She felt the gritty surface of   
the floor through her socks. "I'm in big trouble here, I'm about to acquire a   
delinquency record, I am not having a good day and I'm in no mood to play   
dumb games, okay? I'm not a member of -"  
"Of what?"  
"Anything! Except the orchestra."  
Onishima dragged her round to face him. "Listen, if you don't start   
talking I'm gonna lose my temper, and trust me, honey, you don't want to see   
me do that."  
"Oh, please. Who writes your dialogue?" Amy knew she was being   
stupid, but she didn't care. "I'm not scared of you and I've not got anything   
else to tell you."  
Onishima slapped her across the face. It knocked tears into Amy's eyes,   
but she said coolly, "Have to hit me harder than that, buddy."  
She saw a vein start to throb on his forehead and wondered if he'd have   
a heart attack and die. Not that that would help her; she'd probably get blamed   
for it.   
He dragged her out of the office towards a corridor lined with cells.   
Amy swallowed down the fear rising in her throat. You've been locked in   
before, she told herself. There's nothing to it.   
She focused on her feet, on her socks which were becoming grubbier   
every second. Heard a clatter of keys, and the creak of rusty hinges. She felt a   
shove on her back, and stumbled through into the cell. Then the barred door   
slammed behind her, and knocked cold fear through her body.   
  
Gum looked up at Tab, and sighed. "Why are you asking me?"  
"Cos I've asked everyone else and nothing's been heard. Even   
Professor K doesn't have anything. So spill. Where's Amy?"  
Gum wondered if he'd kill her for this. "Okay, Amy and I were talking,   
and I told her she hadn't really had a fair test to get into our gang. And I gave   
her one. She said she'd do it, and that's the last I heard of it. Maybe she's out   
still doing it."  
"What was the test?" Tab demanded.  
"Put a tag on Shibuya High School." Gum fixed her gaze on the   
hospital light fitting above her.  
"What?"  
"Geez, cool it," Gum snapped, fighting back a yawn.   
"Look, Beat is the leader and he decides whether people have to do   
tests!"  
"This was just a dare. Between friends."  
"Yeah, right. You and Amy are not friends! So where is she?"  
"I don't bloody well know! Maybe she's just having a ball somewhere.   
Maybe she got caught. I don't care." Gum sighed. She just wished, for once,   
that he'd stop fussing over that girl. She didn't fancy Tab - she went with   
Beat, didn't she? - but he was her friend. It had always been her and Beat and   
Tab, even after the other GGs had joined. And now.  
Tab glared at her and put on his radio. Up-set Attack filled the room.   
They listened in stony silence. At last the song came to an end, and Gum   
closed her eyes as Professor K's voice reverberated through her head.  
"And Onishima got lucky again tonight - he's got the schoolgirl GG   
behind bars!"  
Click. Silence fell. Gum gazed out of the window, trying to ignore Tab,   
whose gaze she could feel stabbing through her shoulder blades.  
"Right," he said at last. "I'm going to the police station."  
"What?" Gum looked round at him. "Why?"  
"To get Amy out, why else?"  
"Oh, and how are you gonna do that?"  
"I don't know, but I've got to try, haven't I?"  
"No, you haven't!" Gum shouted. "Stop caring about her so much! She   
can't even skate!" She'd known Tab practically since birth, but now she could   
no more understand him than she could a stranger.   
He looked like he was thinking the same about her. "Why do you hate   
her so much?" he asked, and he sounded genuinely puzzled.  
"I just don't get on with her," Gum said. "She's not my type. And I   
don't know why you do."  
"Well, I'm going to save her." Tab headed towards the door.  
"Yeah, right."  
He stopped for a moment, and threw a sentence over his shoulder: "You   
jealous bitch."  
Then he was gone.  
Gum lay there, a knot of self-pity and hurt growing under her ribs. She   
wasn't going to cry. She'd learnt a long time ago how to stop tears. She closed   
her eyes, and tried to sleep, but she could tell right away that it wasn't going to   
be possible.  
  
Tab skated down the street, burning with fury. The rage was carrying him   
along, helping him ignore the problems he was facing, but deep down a small,   
sensible voice was saying, Hang on. Hang on. What do you think you're   
gonna do?  
I'm gonna rescue her, Tab answered.  
How exactly?  
I'll think of something!  
Go to the garage. Tell the others. They'll help.  
They might not. Tab swallowed. If they didn't - if - they were the only   
people he'd got in the world. He needed them to support him, be on his side.   
If they wouldn't help him now.  
Well, there'd be some pretty bad feeling around. Like there wasn't   
enough already. It would just be easier if he rescued her himself, then they just   
came back like nothing had happened.  
And it would show Amy he wasn't just some stupid jerk in a boiler suit.   
She probably knew really cool guys at school, guys who dressed smart and   
brought girls flowers and stuff like that. He could never be one of those guys.   
But he could get her out of jail.  
Somehow.   
  
Garam crept into the garage. It was quiet. Most of the GGs were asleep, or out   
someplace - only Slate seemed awake, playing pinball, his face flickering as   
the lights on the table jumped on and off.   
Garam wondered where Piranha was. Just casually, of course. It wasn't   
like he was gonna try and make up with her. How could he? What could he   
say to her, anyway? I'm really sorry I tried to kill you. Friends?  
Damn those Rhinos. They'd not care what they'd done to him, they'd   
not care that if they'd cut off that music a few seconds later he'd have been a   
murderer, all they cared about was.what?  
No Devil's Contract now. Surely no one would want to try and resurrect   
a demon now. Goji had been insane, but he was dead. Why were the Rhinos   
suddenly active again?  
Garam looked round the dark garage. The anger burned in his throat,   
but he was curious too. What were they after?   
Suddenly he heard the garage door click open, and his heart karate-  
chopped his ribs as Piranha skated in. She dropped down on the sofa, sighed -   
and saw him. Immediately she looked away.  
"Don't act like I'm a leper or something," Garam snapped.   
"Leave me alone." Piranha's voice had all the encouragement of a brick   
wall.  
"I can't! Piranha, you've got to believe me, I didn't want to hurt you!"  
"I don't care whether you're telling the truth or not." Piranha got to her   
feet and marched towards him. "All I know is that you did hurt me, and I can   
never feel safe with you again."  
"But why not? It wasn't me who did that, I was hypnotised or   
something!" Garam knew he was starting to sound hysterical, but he didn't   
care. He had to get her back. "Listen to me, why don't you?"  
"Garam, just accept it. It's over!"  
Garam felt like he'd been punched. "No! I won't let you do this! We   
had something good going, please, just listen -"   
He grabbed her wrist.   
Piranha slapped him round the face so hard that his feet slipped from   
under him and he fell.  
She looked down at him, nose wrinkled in disgust. "Get away from me.   
Just get away."  
Garam got to his feet, wishing he could burst into tears. He stepped   
away from her, backing towards the garage door, wondering how things could   
have become so wrong.  
  
Amy wondered how long she'd been in the cell. It was dark outside, the lights   
in the police station only forcing the night into corners, not destroying it. The   
cell facing hers was empty, and in the others most of the prisoners seemed to be   
asleep.   
She was tired. Her eyes felt forced open and her neck ached. But she   
wasn't going to sleep. It wasn't safe.  
Did the other GGs know what had happened?  
Why should they care, she told herself. You're not a GG any more.   
You failed.  
I did not! Amy just managed to stop herself from shouting it. I tagged   
the clock. Sure, I got caught, but I did tag it.   
Gum won't accept that.  
Amy sighed. If she got out, she and Gum would be wrangling over it   
for ages.   
She hadn't called her aunt. There'd be a big scene when she found out   
that her niece had been expelled and arrested all in the same day.   
And she wasn't going to get out of this. There were reliable witnesses,   
an incriminating necklace and a death-to-rudies policy. It's juvenile hall for   
you, she told herself. And you know you won't be able to handle it there.  
But she wasn't going to cry. She wasn't going to let anyone in this   
police station hear her.   
  
Tab swallowed and gazed up at the police station. His plan was so simple it   
didn't really deserve to be called a plan, more like 'desperation.' If it worked,   
he'd look great. If it failed, he'd look like a bozo.   
Oh, well, here goes, he thought.  
  
Amy jumped as a thud echoed through the building. It had come from the   
doors slamming against the wall as a blue blur hurtled through them. It   
charged towards Onishima, whom she could see sitting at his desk through the   
open office door. He looked up in surprise -   
Amy winced at the crash. She heard sounds of a struggle, keys rattling,   
then skates skimming along the concrete floor as Tab came tearing down the   
corridor.   
"What are you doing?" she gasped as he stopped at her cell and began   
trying all the keys.  
"Rescuing you, what does it look like?"  
"Well, you'd better hurry -" Amy gulped as several cops came towards   
them. Tab's fingers fumbled with the keys. None of them were fitting.  
"Run!" she hissed as the cops reached them.  
But it was too late. Tab yelped as his arms were grabbed. One of the   
cops yelled, "Captain, we've got him!"  
Amy groaned as Onishima stepped out of his office. He had the   
beginnings of a black eye. This didn't look good.  
"What are you doing here?" Onishima demanded. He glanced from Tab   
to Amy and back again, and then he grinned. "Come to spring your girlfriend   
outta here?"  
Tab kept his mouth shut. Amy was glad of it. Not that it was going to   
help much - even Onishima would be able to put two and two together.  
"Come on, rudie, spill." Onishima shoved Tab backwards. "You know   
her?"  
"Never seen her before in my life," Tab said. "She looks cute, though,   
so I thought I'd get her out and take her for a spin round Tokyo-to. Any   
problems with that?"  
Onishima's face went sour. He glared at Amy, and said, "I'm gonna   
find out the truth about you, honey, and then you're gonna be in it deep."  
Amy let him see her rolling her eyes, then stepped back from the bars as   
Tab was shoved into the cell with her. They both stood there, waiting until   
Onishima had stormed back into his office and pulled the door to, and then   
Amy said, "Why? Why did you come here?"  
"You know why." Tab kept his voice down. "I couldn't just leave   
you."  
"It'd have been safer to."  
"Don't be stupid."  
"I'm not. I'm just saying that I feel bad about getting you caught too."  
"Well, don't." Tab took her hand. "I chose to, right? Okay, the whole   
plan thing could've been worked out a little better, but at least this way we're   
together."  
"Um, yes, but I would have preferred to be together out of jail."  
"That's just typical of you women. Never satisfied!"  
Amy smiled. Okay, so she was still in trouble, but at least she wasn't   
facing it alone.  
Suddenly she heard a car pull up outside the police station. At first she   
thought it was a police car, but it sounded too smooth and new to be that. And   
when the occupant of the car sauntered through the double doors, she knew it   
couldn't be.  
Camilla Rokkaku was walking towards Onishima's office.  
"Wow," Tab muttered. Amy couldn't blame him. Camilla was   
stunning.   
Her smoky hair shone in the dim light of the office, cascading down the   
back of her wine-coloured suit. Her tanned legs were smooth, her skin creamy,   
and her nails were expertly manicured. Amy glanced down at her own grubby   
fingers, and at her jeans, which were smeared with moss and dirt from the   
school buildings, and sighed.   
Camilla headed towards Onishima's office, and as she entered they   
heard her say, "Captain, I believe you have two rudies in custody at the   
moment?" Her voice was low and elegant. Class act all the way, Amy   
thought. She glanced at Tab, but he looked as puzzled as she felt.  
"Yes - uh - Miss Rokkaku - that is correct." A fawning tone had   
entered Onishima's voice.  
"I would like them to be released."  
"Huh?" Tab blinked. "Did she just say what I thought she did?"  
Amy nodded, and waited for Onishima's reaction.  
"WHAT?"  
"Is there a problem with this, Captain?" Camilla said, ice lancing   
through her voice. "Because if there is."  
"Miss Rokkaku - you - I - well - you don't understand! Releasing   
rudies - it'll destroy everything I've worked for! I need to make an example of   
these two! This -"  
"Captain Onishima, I wish them to be released into my care. There is   
more at stake than what you are thinking of. I need to talk to them. It's   
urgent."  
Amy remembered Gum, lying there unconscious, and felt sick.  
"If you have a problem with this," Camilla said sweetly, "I'm sure we   
could see you being relocated to another department where this sort of issue   
would not arise. Maybe cleaning this office, rather than sitting in it, would be   
more suited to your talents."  
There was a short silence. Amy could feel everyone in the building   
listening.   
"The two rudies, you said?" Onishima growled at last.  
"Yes." A thin layer of triumph covered the word like golden foil on   
expensive chocolate.   
Amy heard Onishima stamping up the corridor towards them. "What   
does she want?" she whispered to Tab.  
"Dunno. But maybe we should go along with it. We might learn   
something 'bout the music and all."  
"Okay." Amy turned as Onishima viciously opened the cell door,   
dragged her out, unlocked her cuffs, and shoved her towards Camilla, who had   
followed him.   
"If I ever see you in here again." he growled at Amy.  
"You won't," Amy said.  
The two GGs followed Camilla back down the corridor, and out of the   
station. Parked outside was a long black limousine.   
Camilla gestured for them to get in. Amy did so, heart pounding. What   
was going on here?   
The back seat of the car was wide enough to accommodate all three of   
them comfortably, and was separated from the chauffeur, in the front, by a   
tinted glass partition. As it pulled away from the police station, Camilla turned   
towards them, and said, "Are you familiar with my father's actions leading up   
to the end of his life?"  
"If you mean all that demon stuff, then yeah," Tab said. "I helped stop   
it."   
"That's good," Camilla said. "Because I think you're going to need to   
again."  
  
The streets were an uneasy place to be, Garam decided.   
He sat on a bench in Kogane-cho, wondering why he was here. Kogane   
was a bad place at night. There were bad people in Kogane at night. But   
somehow he'd ended up there, and now he couldn't bring himself to move.  
Besides, he knew this turf. It wasn't like he was being na‹ve. He was   
just nervous. Very nervous. Oh, all right, he was scared shitless.  
Garam headed down the street, trying to ignore the black holes that in   
daytime became side streets. There was one advantage to the fear, of course. It   
helped him forget Piranha.   
Damn it, now he'd thought about her again. Quickly he focused on the   
limping footsteps he could hear behind him, trying to get her out of his head.  
Hang on. The limping footsteps he could hear behind him?  
Garam turned, heart pounding. There was a bulky figure watching him.  
"What do you want?" he called, trying to act like his knees weren't   
shaking.  
"I want to talk to you, GG."  
"Yeah? Well, maybe I don't wanna hear it."  
"One of your lot got iced by the Golden Rhinos, right?"  
"No, not iced. Just - temporarily disabled."  
"They're back, aren't they?"  
"What makes you think that?" Garam tried not to sound too interested.   
This was Kogane-cho, and maybe the muggers were just getting smart.  
"Music. Tags of rhinos. And rumours about rudies getting hurt by men   
in black suits. Sound familiar?"  
"Why're you talking to me about it?"  
"I got my own score to settle with those guys. Come on. It's too cold   
out here. Let's go talk."  
"Where?" If he said 'down the alley,' Garam decided that he'd run.  
But the guy gestured the yellow-lit doorway of a bar near them, and   
said, "Let's go get a drink."  
They headed inside. It was warm in there, but very quiet. A few people   
sat hunched over glasses or sleeping, heads on the tables. From the partially   
boarded-up window Garam could hear the gentle splashing of the river below   
them as it lapped against its concrete banks.  
"What's the grudge you've got against the Rhinos?" he said when his   
companion came back with two drinks. In the light the guy was revealed to be   
large and heavy, and he had only one leg. The other had been torn off below   
the knee.  
"I was a rudie once," the guy said. "A Poison Jammer. Then the Rhinos   
took my friends, made'em into zombies. They didn't take me. I figured out   
what had happened, tried to stop them. I ran into a bunch of their hoods. My   
leg got smashed so bad it had to be taken off."  
Garam swallowed and hoped he had a sympathetic expression on.  
"When the Jammers came back they kicked me out. A one-legged rudie   
is useless. Since then I been sleeping rough, or crashing in friends' homes   
when I can. If the Rhinos are back I want to teach'em a lesson."  
"They're back all right," Garam said. "But we don't know who called   
them."  
"My money's on the Rokkaku twins."  
"I guess so, but.I don't know." Garam looked down at the scratched   
table, then back at the ex-Jammer. "What's your name, anyway?"  
"They called me Breaker once." He got up. Garam saw that he had a   
crutch to lean on that looked as if it had been made out of a broom handle.   
"I'll contact you if I find anything," Breaker said. "And if there's a   
Rhino-hunting expedition, I want to be in on it."  
"You got it." Garam headed back out into the darkness, following   
Breaker. Once outside he turned left, to make his way back to Shibuya.   
Breaker turned right. "I'll see you."  
Garam nodded, and set off. He still didn't feel too happy about his life,   
but at least someone had it worse than him.  
  
"Someone's doing the history repeating thing?" Tab said. "Who?"  
"This is only an idea," Camilla said. "I don't want you spreading   
rumours. All right?"  
"Sure."   
"My brother."  
"Koji?" Tab whistled. "Why?"  
"I don't know!" Camilla said. Her voice wobbled a little. Amy felt a   
little sorry for her, but it was difficult to feel more than that when Tab was   
gazing at the woman like he was seeing a divine vision.  
"I'm sorry." Camilla straightened the collar of her jacket. "But.well,   
I'll start from the beginning. I noticed Koji had been working later into the   
night than usual. I wondered if there was a problem with the company that he   
wasn't telling me. So I checked out the file he'd been looking at. I had to   
break a password, but I did get in."  
"What was the file?" Amy asked.  
"My father's notes on the Devil's Contract plot," Camilla said, her voice   
heavy. "He had written them to Koji. And now Koji was reading them."  
There was silence for a moment, broken only by the almost inaudible   
purring of the car engine. Amy swallowed. She glanced out of the window at   
the emptying streets. It looked very dark out there.  
"Did you ask him why he read them?" Tab said at last.  
"I did. He denied doing so." Camilla sighed. "I decided I had been   
mistaken. Then."  
"Then?" Amy said.  
"I found a recording of the music my father had used. I found records of   
calls made to names I recognised, Golden Rhino names. I had known some of   
those people. We both had. My father used to entertain them. Koji could trace   
them easily."  
"But why'd he revive the Rhinos? He loves the corporation," Tab said.   
"Or seems to."  
"Oh, he's very serious about business," Camilla said. "It could be that   
he's doing it for some reason of that sort. But I don't know what."  
"But the record was a hoax.wasn't it?" Amy said. She took a deep   
breath of the upholstery-scented air in the car.   
"Maybe he's just investigating," Tab said. "Maybe he doesn't want to   
actually do the whole demon summoning thing. Maybe he's thinking of using   
the Rhinos to - uh - rub out opponents."  
"He's changed, then," Camilla said. She sounded miserable. "Once he   
would have fought fairly, and enjoyed it. Now."  
"I don't understand why you're telling us this," Tab said. "What about   
the Keisatsu?"  
"You think they can do anything? The Rokkaku Corporation is the   
richest entity in Tokyo-to. They'd find it pretty hard to arrest my brother, and   
even if they did he could afford the best lawyers and he'd be free within a   
year."  
She shook back her dark hair. "Also, we'll be ruined if this gets out.   
We've only just managed to get people trusting us again. If it's discovered that   
the next generation of Rokkakus have turned bad.You rudies saved us all   
before. I'm just telling you that you may need to again."  
"Saving the world is our speciality," Tab said. "So that's why you got   
us out back there?"  
"Yes. Like I said to the captain, there is more at stake here than he   
realises. And I wanted to show you that I need you. I'm really worried, I   
confess. He's my twin, and even I don't know why he's doing this."  
She closed her eyes for a second. Amy noticed that they were bright   
blue. They looked anomalous in her tanned face.   
"I'll drop you off here," Camilla said, ordering the chauffeur to stop the   
car. Amy looked out of the window. They were on the edge of Shibuya-cho,   
near the Rokkaku building. "Can you get home all right?"  
"Sure," Tab said. "I know my way round this place great."  
Amy, who was nearest the door, opened it and stepped out onto the   
pavement. She watched as Tab wriggled out of the car. He kept looking back   
at Camilla.  
Amy remembered that the Rokkaku twins were only two or three years   
older than she and Tab were. She felt jealousy stick in her throat.   
As the car pulled away from them, though, Tab turned back to Amy and   
said, "Lucky break, huh?"  
Amy shrugged. "I guess so."  
"What's wrong?"  
"Umm." Amy decided to keep her mouth shut about Camilla. She   
wasn't going to act touchy. She was not. "Oh, I'm just tired, I guess. And   
I've got to find some way to tell my aunt I've been expelled."  
As she said it she realised what a horrible scene it would be.  
"What, now?" Tab said. He glanced at his watch. "It's midnight.   
She'll be asleep."  
"Or out," Amy said. "I guess I'll leave it till the morning." She   
yawned. Suddenly she was very tired.  
"You going home?"  
"No." It was too dark. The house would be too quiet. Amy wanted   
company tonight.  
"Then let's check this place out." Tab pointed towards the Rokkaku   
building.  
It towered over them, making Amy feel like an ant. Covered in glass, it   
caught the streetlights and let the light rush across its surface like water.   
"What do you mean?" Amy tilted her head back to stare at it. The   
Rokkaku symbol on the top floor looked down at her like an accusing eye.   
"It's big. It's powerful. It quite possibly has a maniac living in it. What more   
is there to say?"  
"Very funny," Tab said, shoving her lightly. "I mean, see if there's a   
way in."  
"What?"  
"Look, Camilla thinks there's something fishy going on, and she's a   
smart lady. We might be able to find out something more, seeing as we'll be   
looking at it for the first time. Then we could.I dunno.do something."  
Amy considered the plan. It seemed crazy, but crazy in a sensible sort   
of way. And after all, none of the other rudies would discard it. Especially not   
a certain blonde one.  
"Okay. Any ideas?" she said.  
  
They looked for what seemed like ages. At last Amy saw a fire escape   
branching up the side of the building. She waved Tab over, and they set off.   
"Which floor do we want?" she said.   
"Hmmm. I'm pretty sure Koji and Camilla have penthouses on the top   
three floors, so let's go for the floor below that. If we can."  
Amy nodded, and tried not to look down. The fire escape seemed to   
creak too much, and when she looked down Tokyo-to seemed too far away.  
Tab tested the door into the building as they reached the top. It was   
locked. "Hmm."  
"They'll hear you if you smash it," Amy whispered, shivering in the   
night air.  
"That's why I'm not going to do it. We'll have to try for the next floor."  
"Why?"   
"No one's on this floor, are they? So of course the exit's locked. But on   
the next one the Rokkakus are relaxing. They don't want to be frizzled if there   
is a fire."  
"Let's just hope we don't walk straight into them, then," Amy said as   
they climbed another flight of stairs.  
"No worries." They reached the next door. Tab looked thoughtfully at   
it. He shoved it. It remained shut. Amy didn't say anything. You never   
know, upsetting his male pride might lead him to - she gulped - push her off   
the fire escape. She looked down.   
It was as though she was mountaineering, clinging to the side of an   
enormous structure with the world spread out below her. The cars were tiny   
darts of light as they sped along, and the houses looked like a picture, too small   
and distant to be real. She was nervous - but there was excitement there too,   
making blood pulse through her body. Freedom.  
There was a click from behind her, and she felt a draught on her back as   
the door swung open.  
"How did you do that?" she asked Tab.  
"Oh, I manipulated it a bit."  
Amy couldn't see anything broken, so she decided to let the matter drop.  
Then they crept inside.  
  
It was a shadowy place, white painted and painfully clean. The windows, long,   
low ones which stroked the walls, were covered by sharp slatted blinds, causing   
thin stripes of moonlight to patter onto the floor.  
"I reckon we'd better split up," Tab whispered. "Listen out for   
anything."  
Amy nodded, and at the end of the corridor she took the left turn, and he   
took the right.  
It was so quiet. Amy tiptoed along, heart pounding in her ears, hoping   
desperately that she wouldn't be spotted. Unless, of course, someone was   
watching her now. Unless they had video cameras here.  
It felt like a small drop of icy water slid down her spine. She tried not to   
panic.   
Right. She'd reached a doorway. It was dark, so she hoped there was   
nobody in the room. Hands suddenly damp, she reached out and opened the   
door, and before she could lose her nerve, stepped inside.  
She was now standing facing two more doors. One said Miss C.   
Rokkaku, the other, Mr K Rokkaku. And under each name it said PRIVATE.  
Bingo, Amy thought. She stepped into Koji's office.   
There was half a large Rokkaku symbol on the wall, with a window set   
in the middle. Presumably the other half would be in Camilla's office.   
Underneath the symbol was a large desk, with several books and papers   
scattered across it, and a computer surveying the mess. Against the wall was a   
large cupboard.   
Amy took a deep breath, and started to look at the papers. But it was too   
dark to do so efficiently. On the other hand, turning on the light mightn't be   
such a good idea. She compromised by sliding up the blind across the window   
and reading by the moonlight and streetlight that filtered in.  
Most of the papers seemed unsuspicious. She couldn't find any   
references to Rhinos, eerie music, rudies, or Jet Set Radio. She glanced at the   
computer. There was a disk in it, but could she risk turning it on? She looked   
around. She couldn't see any trace of a burglar alarm, but you never knew.  
Suddenly she heard footsteps.   
She froze.   
Then the door handle turned.  
  
Deep below the Rokkaku building, six figures sit waiting.   
They are not nice figures. There is cruelty in their eyes and frustration   
in their voices. As they sit in the darkness, you can bet your life they mean   
trouble.  
"You know what he's planning?" one says at last. He's holding a coiled   
whip in one hand, and stroking it with the other, like it's a cat. Sunglasses hide   
his eyes. He bites off the ends of words as he speaks them.  
"No." This figure is tall, taller than any of the others. His voice is deep   
and slow, and he doesn't use it much.  
"It's obviously something big." Another figure speaks now. His voice   
is high and sneering, and seems to forever tremble on the edge of insanity.   
"Perhaps I'll get a chance to use a Molotov on those flaming rudies."  
"Flaming is right. Just wait till I get my hands on them." Another   
figure slams a fist onto the table. "When I think how we were all beaten by a   
bunch of kids."  
"No worries," the last figure says. He's wearing a pair of flying goggles   
on his forehead, and his skin has been eroded by high-altitude wind and rain.   
"The boss says the word - we snuff 'em out."  
"Sounds good to me," the man with the whip says. "So we wait,   
gentlemen?"  
"We wait," the large man says. He lifts a finger, and sparks spatter it for   
a brief moment. "And then - we strike."  
  
  



	6. Escape

Chapter 05 - Escape  
  
(I don't own JSR. Thanx to everyone who r+r'd the last chapter! As Disk   
knows, I've had some problems with this fic, and good reviews make all the   
pain and trauma worthwhile. So pleeease r+r this chapter too! Oh, and   
Camilla and Amy are mine, and Koji is apart from the name. Obviously the   
Rokkaku family are Sega's. I think that's all - on with the story!)  
  
Amy looked around wildly, heart hammering. Her mind dashed through ideas   
as she tried to think.   
The cupboard. She ran over, pulled it open and stepped inside,   
flattening herself against piles of paper and envelopes. Pulling the door shut,   
she gripped it tightly as she heard someone walk into the office.  
The figure walked past the cupboard, and she heard a click, and a hum   
as the computer booted up. Amy tried not to breathe too loudly. What was   
going on?  
Could it be Tab? she wondered. On the deep carpet it was difficult to   
hear if the intruder was wearing skates or not. No, she couldn't risk it. She   
kept quiet.  
Her fingers ached from holding the cupboard door shut. She prayed it   
wouldn't swing open.   
Someone was typing. Amy itched to see who, and what. It was   
midnight, for pete's sake, what would someone be doing creating accounts at   
this time? But she didn't dare move. She had a horrible feeling that if she did,   
she'd end up falling out onto the floor, and then she'd be sunk.  
How did I get into this? she asked herself. One minute I'm a normal   
kid, now I'm expelled, I have a criminal record, and I'm hiding in the office of   
one of the most powerful men in this city listening to someone else doing   
something it doesn't sound like they want anyone else to hear about.   
Could it be Koji, plotting some more dealings with the Rhinos? Or was   
the guy just finishing off some late-night invoices?   
Come on, she urged him silently. My fingers are going dead...  
And then, at last, she heard a click as the computer was switched off,   
and gentle footsteps on the carpet, and the slam of the door, and silence.  
She waited. Waited some more. But the building was completely silent   
now, relaxed, asleep.   
At last she pushed open the cupboard door and stepped out. Everything   
looked the same as before.   
Suddenly Amy just wanted to get out of there. She turned and dashed   
out of the room. She needed to find Tab.  
There was only the two offices and a waiting room on this floor, and   
Tab wasn't in either of them. Amy reached the steps up to the next floor, and   
sighed. She was going to have to venture up into the Rokkaku home, and hope   
she found him before anyone else did.  
Here goes.   
The carpet muffled her feet as she crept up the stairs. As she went, her   
surroundings became more decorative. Elegant statues and vases in the   
corridors. Hidden bulbs instead of strip lights. She reached the next corridor,   
and started to creep along it.   
She could hear voices, and light spilled from a doorway in front of her.   
She tiptoed forward, and saw Camilla, standing with her back to the door,   
jacket slung over a chair, shoes off, and shoulders tense.   
"I know something's going on, Koji," she said. "Somebody's -"  
A voice cut her off. "Camilla, go take your hysteria someplace else. I   
haven't got time for this." It was a quick voice, a voice accustomed to making   
snap decisions.   
"You will have time when they haul you off to jail for sending assassins   
round the city," Camilla spat back at him.  
"Is that a threat?" He pounced on the sentence like a cheetah.  
"It's a warning."  
Silence. Then Koji said, "Jealousy is pathetic in a woman of your age."  
"What's that supposed to mean?"  
"Stop seeking attention, will you? Just because I'm the real head of the   
corporation doesn't mean you have to stoop to this sort of thing."  
"You idiot!" Camilla shouted. "You don't understand! I thought you   
cared about this company. I thought you knew we have an image problem. I   
thought -"  
"You thought? Well, that is a surprise." Koji threw the words at her.   
"Get a life, sister dear. Any image problem we'll have now is nothing to what   
we'll have if the public finds out one of the Rokkaku twins is a self-obsessed,   
lying brat."  
It sounded like he meant every word. Amy caught her breath. Ouch.  
Camilla said, slowly and deliberately, "You can't treat me like this,   
Koji. One day you'll be sorry."  
"Can't you come up with anything more original than that?"  
Amy backed away down the corridor as she saw Camilla step towards   
the door. Quickly she ducked round the corner as the woman marched out of   
the door and off down the other way. Koji slammed the door behind her.   
Amy looked round the corridor again. There was a large Chinese vase,   
as tall as she was and about half a metre wide, next to the doorway, which cast   
a bulbous shadow onto the floor.   
She yawned. What time was it now? She was so tired. It seemed   
strange that she was still the same person who'd watched rudies skating in the   
rain days ago.   
She sat down next to the vase and sighed.   
"Where are you, Tab?" she whispered, hoping Koji couldn't hear her.  
Suddenly someone rose out of the vase. Amy just managed to suppress   
a shriek. It was Tab.  
He gave her a mock bow, and said, "You called?"  
Amy put her finger to her lips, and indicated the closed door. A   
silhouette could be seen behind it.   
"Let's go," she mouthed.  
Tab nodded. Amy helped him out of the vase, which was wobbling   
precariously, and onto the floor. Then they hurried to the steps, down to the   
next floor, back to the fire door, and out.   
"Some happy family," Tab said as they made their way back down the   
fire escape. "You heard 'em?"  
"Koji and Camilla? Yes. What do you make of it?"  
Tab shrugged. "Could be Camilla hates Koji so much she's seeing   
things that ain't there. On the other hand, someone must be doing the Rhino   
thing, and he seems a likely guy, right?"  
"Yes." They reached the ground, and started to walk down the street.   
Amy told Tab what she'd heard in Koji's office.  
"Who d'you think it was?" he said. "I never went in there."  
"I don't know. There weren't distinctive footsteps or anything.   
Someone put on the computer..."  
"How'd they walk?"  
"I didn't see, did I?"  
"I mean how'd it sound?"  
"Oh...slow..." Amy realised what he was getting at. "Not like they   
wanted to be heard."  
"So it could have been Koji...doing something Rhino-related...or   
someone trying to find out, like we were."  
"I just don't see what we can do," Amy said gloomily. "We don't know   
enough! What are they planning? And why? And how can we stop it?"  
"I don't know," Tab said. "But don't worry. We're the GGs. We   
stopped 'em before, and we can do it again."  
"I hope so. I'd better get home," Amy said, yawning.   
"You don't have to go," Tab said. There was concern in his voice.   
"You could stay in the garage."   
"I've got to face her sometime. Might as well get it over with." Amy   
swallowed. Every cell in her body was telling her to accept Tab's offer. But   
she knew that she'd have to speak to her aunt again sooner or later. May as   
well make it sooner.  
"You want me to come with you?" Tab said.  
"All right. But don't come in, it'll just make things worse."   
The streets were empty and the shops were dark. The small hours, Amy   
thought. A good name. Nothing big seems to happen. Everything's dead. I   
shouldn't be out here now. It's all wrong.  
"I lost the necklace you gave me," she said, suddenly remembering.   
"Onishima made me take it off."  
"Don't worry about it. I can get you another."  
"You don't have to."   
"I want to."  
And now they'd reached her house. Amy suddenly felt very sick. She   
didn't want to go in here. If her aunt was asleep, she'd leave a note, and then   
burn straight back out again. If her aunt was asleep.  
Tab squeezed her shoulders. "You sure you want to do this?"  
Amy nodded, but she couldn't speak. She kissed Tab, wanting it to last   
forever. But no dice. Soon she had to break away. Hand shaking, she knocked   
on the door.  
Silence.  
"What if she ain't in?" Tab asked.  
"She will be." Amy knocked again. Her hand shook as she did so.  
Come on, she thought, answer, why don't you? Don't make me wait   
like this!  
Third time lucky. She banged on the door one more time.  
Then she heard the click of the bolt on the other side being pushed back.   
She swallowed, and motioned Tab to hide. He gave her a thumbs-up, then   
ducked behind a lamppost.  
The door swung open. Amy stepped inside, and turned to face her aunt,   
who was standing behind the door. It slammed shut as she began to speak.  
"I went out tonight," she said. "I put a tag on the school. A graffiti tag.   
I got arrested. I got expelled. I was freed by a benefactor. I'm now a dropout   
with a record. And I'm leaving."  
She could smell whisky. Her heart froze for a beat. Her aunt didn't get   
drunk often, but when she did...the last time had been a few months ago, and   
Amy still hated to remember it.  
Her guardian's face was dead-white, and her hand shook as it clutched   
her dressing gown. Amy turned to walk back out the door, and cried out as her   
aunt's hand caught her on the side of the head.   
Then she was being shaken, shaken violently, view breaking up as it   
happened, then dropped suddenly...she fell onto her knees and felt a foot catch   
her in the stomach...curling up, she tried to keep a hold on her insides, felt   
tears spatter her skin...more kicks, it hurt so bad, please stop, just let me catch   
my breath...her nose was bleeding, she could feel the blood running down over   
her lips...she couldn't handle this...she couldn't...dimly she saw hands   
grabbing the mirror that hung in the hall...it was coming towards her...quickly   
she threw her hands over her head...  
CRASH  
And the view danced one more time in front of her eyes, and then faded.  
  
Tab heard the sound of shattering glass. For a moment he was paralysed. Then   
he rushed towards the house. The door was shut. He banged on it, hands   
shaking, hardly thinking, but there was no answer.   
"Amy!" he yelled. "Amy! What's happened?"  
Silence. Silence everywhere.  
Tab swallowed and focused on the glass panel in the door. This was not   
gonna be easy to explain, but on the other hand he had to do something.  
Quickly he took off one skate, and then, balancing precariously, he   
raised it, and smashed the glass.  
No one said anything. No one shouted out. In a way that made it worse.   
It made it look much more like something was wrong. Carefully Tab reached   
down through the jagged hole and opened the door from the inside. Putting his   
skate back on, he stepped over the threshold.   
It was pitch black inside the house, but the streetlight glittered on shards   
of glass and mirror dotted about the floor. Any hope Tab might have had about   
Amy being all right was wrecked as he saw her lying there, head lolling, a   
bruise swelling up on her forehead.  
"Amy?" He dropped down next to her, feeling mirror pieces crunch   
underneath him. Please don't be dead, please don't be dead, he implored   
silently. He touched her back, and tried to keep calm as he felt the rise and fall   
of her breath.  
There was a large wooden frame lying on the ground next to them, with   
some pieces of mirror still attached. Tab looked from it to Amy to the empty   
hook on the wall, and drew the obvious conclusion: the aunt had finally   
flipped, and Amy had suffered for it.  
Surely she'll agree to do something now, he thought. If she wakes up -   
when she wakes up, come on, let's keep positive, when she wakes up she'll see   
it's too dangerous. Like I did. Eventually.   
But first to make sure she wakes up okay. Now where do they keep the   
phone in this place? Tab stood up and looked round the hallway. Zilch.  
Oh, well, have to go snooping, then. It's not like it's my fault. He   
walked over to the nearest door and pushed it open.   
As he stepped inside, a familiar smell punched his nostrils. Someone   
had definitely been hitting the bottle. This room was pitch-black but he could   
see another unconscious figure slumped on the floor. No prizes for guessing   
who.  
He flicked on the light, and Amy's aunt moaned faintly. She didn't   
wake up, though. Tab was glad of that. He yearned to show her just what it   
felt like to get beaten on. Seeing Amy like this was bringing back a lot of nasty   
memories, and it all made him angry...  
The room looked like a study, and there was a phone on the desk. Tab   
picked up the receiver and quickly made a 911 call. Then he headed back out   
to Amy.   
As he sat down next to her again, she blinked, and looked up at him.   
"Tab..."  
"That's me, the one and only. How do you feel?"   
"Where's my aunt?" A shadow passed across Amy's bloodstained face.  
"Off her face in there. Don't worry, she's too out of it to do much."  
Amy swallowed, and he saw that she was crying. He asked, nervously,   
"What happened?"  
"I told her...but I don't think it would have made much difference if I   
hadn't...when she's like that she's crazy...she hit me and kicked me...then she   
hit me with that mirror..." Amy looked round at the remains on the floor. "I   
think it was the frame knocked me out...I can't stay here...I won't..."  
"Course you won't. You can come stay in the garage with us."  
"You mean it?" For a moment her eyes shone in the darkness. Then the   
light faded. "No...they won't let me..."  
"Amy..." He put an arm round her. Her shoulder blades and spine   
could be felt through her clothes, delicate and brittle, easily snapped. "Don't   
be dumb. They'll let you stay, okay? I know they will."  
"Thank you..." She sat up a little. Tab scraped the pieces of glass out   
of her way.   
"I called an ambulance," he said. "Didn't know whether you'd be   
okay."  
"What'll we tell them?"  
"The truth might be nice."  
"I can't," she said. "I can't, Tab, she'll be sent to jail or something, I   
can't."  
"Why not?"  
"I - I don't know - I just can't tell them."  
"Well -"  
"You never told them, did you?" Suddenly she met his eyes. "You   
never told anyone about what happened to you."  
"No, but that was different." Leave it alone, he ordered her silently. It   
was like touching a bruise, thinking about it all.  
"It was no different."  
"All right! So maybe I didn't. But I'm older now. Older and wiser. I   
can see what's right."  
"Sure you can," Amy said coolly. "I don't want to tell them, all right? I   
thought you of all people would be able to understand that. Let's just go."  
"But - are you okay and all?"  
"Yeah. I ache, but I'll feel better soon. I'm fine." She sighed. "Look,   
if I get dizzy or black out or something I'll go to casualty, okay? The   
ambulance can come for my aunt. She doesn't sound too good either."  
Tab knew he should force her to wait, but he didn't want to. His heart   
was still cold from the fear he'd felt when he'd seen her looking dead. That   
had been one kind of loss. He didn't want another.  
"All right, then," he said. "Come on. Let's go."  
  
The garage was dark and silent when they got in, sleeping GGs dotted around it   
like sculptures. Amy washed the blood off her face in the bathroom, then sank   
down against the sound system and tried to sleep. Her eyes were heavy, but it   
was still hard to relax.  
In one night, her life had been - shattered? - no - she hadn't lost much.   
More like shaken. Shaken up to form a new picture. What this picture was she   
wasn't yet sure. She knew in the morning she'd be able to see things clearly,   
but now it all seemed too strange to think about. No school. No guardian. No   
house. But she was safe here. Listening to the others sleep, she still felt   
isolated, awake in a world of night-time, but at least she was no longer alone.  
  
(Pleease r+r! I need your opinions *cough and your gratuitous praise cough* Oh, and I'm not pretending I know anything about child abuse, so I hope I haven't offended anyone by my portrayal of it here.)  



	7. Don't Go Out Alone

Chapter 06 - Don't Go Out Alone  
  
(Thank you for r+ring the last chapter. Please repeat for this one! I don't own JSR or associated characters, however I do own Amy.)  
  
The next morning Gum walked back through the garage door, hand in hand   
with Beat, and froze as she saw Amy sitting on the sofa.  
"What are you doing here?" she demanded.  
Amy swallowed. "Um - watching TV? Breathing?"  
"Very funny." Gum skated across to her. "You remember our last   
conversation?"  
"Yes. And I did it. I put a tag on the clock."  
"Oh, really?"  
"Yes, really," Amy snapped. She knew Gum had put that 'liar' tone in   
her voice on purpose. "Go and check if you don't believe me."  
"What does it matter?" Beat asked, looking from one girl to the other.   
"Amy does enough tagging as it is -"  
"It matters," Gum said, "because we had a little bet. If she couldn't do   
it, she'd quit."  
"What? Quit the GGs?"  
"Yes." Amy stood up. "But I did do it, so I can stay, right?"  
"What did you go making a bet like that for?" Beat asked.   
Neither girl answered him.   
"Anyway," Amy said at last, "you promised that if I did it, you'd stop   
going on at me and accept me as a member. So start keeping that promise."  
"What is with you?" Tab asked Gum. "You're acting crazy."  
"Oh, keep your nose out," she retorted, then turned back to Amy. "Fine,   
schoolgirl rudie. I'll accept you as a member. Okay? You are now a GG. But   
that's all. Just because you're in this team doesn't mean I have to like you."  
"Same here," Amy replied coolly. She met Gum's eyes, silently daring   
the other girl to make any more trouble.   
"Well, come on," Beat said. "Let's get moving, shall we?"  
"Yeah," Tab said. "Amy, we've got Shibuya to deal with." Amy got to   
her feet and accompanied Tab out of the garage, but she held Gum's stare until   
the door hid her from view.  
  
Piranha didn't know how she'd ended up going out tagging with Garam, but   
she wasn't going to put up with it. As they skated through Kogane-cho, she   
moved faster and faster, quickening her pace in time to 'Sweet Soul Brother,'   
until Garam had been left far behind.  
Piranha jumped onto the roofs of Kogane-cho residential area, and   
began tagging, enjoying the feel of the warm sun on her back. It was nice just   
to be able to get out and do something for once. Keeping busy took her mind   
off Garam. She would never have admitted it to him, but deep, deep down -   
she did miss him. Sort of.  
The music was very quiet. Piranha knew she'd be okay if anything   
happened. She could fight against it. She was no wimp.   
She focused on her tag, narrowing her eyes as the paint spattered over   
the sunbleached roof. Soon she'd finished, and she grinned at it, satisfied. A   
flicker of happiness burned in her throat, and she soaked up the sun, trying to   
keep the feeling alive.   
  
She reached for her paint can. It wasn't there.   
The roofs had vanished. She was sitting on dusty ground. Her tag had   
gone. Her paint had gone. What had happened?  
Suddenly someone's foot slammed into her ribs, and she cried out.   
She was knocked face-down into the dust. Coughing and spitting it out,   
she sat up and realised she was in Kogane factory yard. Three Poison Jammers   
were surrounding her.   
"What's going on?" she said. "How did I get here?"  
"Don't try and act innocent," growled one of the Jammers, kicking her   
again. "You traitor!"  
"What? What have I done?" Piranha's voice shook and she tried to   
steady it.  
Another Jammer hauled her to her feet and dragged her across the yard.   
"Take a look at that!" he snarled, shoving her against the wall.  
Piranha swallowed and stared at the Golden Rhino tag that was smeared   
across the bricks.  
"So?" she said, her heart sinking.  
"Oh, stop pretending," said the third Jammer. "We saw you. God, you   
GGs act so clever...and then you go over to the Rhinos..."  
"No, I didn't," Piranha snapped. "It was the music, okay? The music is   
mind-controlling -"  
"Oh, sure it is," said a Jammer. "That's what your boyfriend was   
saying, and we all know what he's like. Quit trying to fool us."  
Piranha's mouth dropped open.  
"You went all round Kogane-cho, putting dem Rhino tags everywhere.   
You are a sucky rudie, you know that?"  
"Shut up!" Piranha yelled. "Just quit picking on me!" To her horror,   
she felt tears stinging her eyes. Was it the mention of Garam that had done it?   
One of the Jammers grabbed her wrists and started dragging her towards   
the factory. "We don't like girls who start putting tags like that in our turf."  
"Yeah. We don't like girls who're traitors to being rudies."  
Piranha struggled desperately, but the clawed hands gripping her were   
like stone.   
"We don't like girls who tell lies."  
Piranha threw caution to the winds. "Help!" she screamed. "Someone   
help me!" At the same time she kicked the Jammer holding her in the groin as   
hard as she could. He groaned and doubled up, letting go of her, but another   
one caught her as she tried to run. He punched her, hard, and she stumbled.  
The factory grounds were empty. Piranha kicked, scratched, bit,   
desperately trying to get away, screaming for help, hearing her voice echo over   
the empty paths.  
The Jammer holding her dragged her into the cool factory and flung her   
onto the ground. The other two came to stand over her, a solid wall of flesh   
blocking the door.   
They advanced on her. She wriggled backwards, desperately trying to   
think of something, anything, to save her, but no good. She was trapped.  
Hands grabbed her, the claws brushing her skin. There was a tearing   
sound, and she felt icy air hit her skin as they ripped her top off. Throwing one   
arm up to protect her breasts, she tried to dash forward once again, but a   
melon-sized fist caught her stomach and bowled her back into the factory.  
"Leave her alone."  
A cold, familiar voice spat out three words.   
The Jammers stopped, and turned.   
Garam stood there, rigid with rage against the sunset.  
"What're you gonna do about it, GG?" one of the Jammers sneered.  
"Just leave her."   
"She tagged Rhino pictures," muttered the Jammer Piranha had kicked.   
He was still doubled over a little.  
"Then you leave me no choice," Garam said. He stepped back a little   
and shouted, "You're nothing but a bunch of wimps!"  
Then he ran.  
The Jammers tore after him, snarling with rage. Piranha knelt on the   
floor of the factory, crossing her arms over herself, wanting to escape but not   
knowing whether she should do something for Garam...  
Suddenly Garam dashed into the factory and called to her. "Run!"  
Piranha wasted no time. She ran.  
They climbed the pile of old cars, Piranha's legs aching as she struggled   
to negotiate the wobbly surface. Soon they'd reached the path, and then they   
began to dash, hurrying to the path leading to the residential area, hearing the   
shouts of the Jammers behind them.   
"Hurry!" Garam called to her. They zigzagged round the bends, leapt   
onto the rooftops. Piranha tried to ignore the thought that was saying, I'd kill   
for a bra...  
Faster and faster...  
And at last Garam said, "I think we can stop now. We lost 'em."  
Piranha looked around. They were in an alleyway in the residential   
district. Garam was watching her, but when she met his eyes he looked away.  
"Thank you..." she said.  
"That's okay."  
"Garam, I -"  
"I said, that's okay."  
He was being so cold. For the first time since their fight Piranha wanted   
to make him be warm to her again.  
"Are you all right?" he asked. "Did those jerks hurt you?"  
"Not really." Piranha blushed as his eyes skated over her. "I don't   
suppose you got a spare shirt on you, huh?"  
Garam grinned slightly. "Sorry. If I had one I'd give it to ya, though.   
Let's get back."  
Piranha nodded. She noticed that as they began to walk, Garam kept   
close to her, and when she stumbled, he caught her arm. She expected to feel   
terrified as his hand grabbed her wrist, but she didn't - there was no rage in his   
grip. She could almost imagine him not hurting her. Almost.   
She looked over at him. He wasn't studying her or anything; instead he   
was focusing on the ground. For the first time Piranha felt a little guilty about   
being so angry with him. If he'd hit her of his own free will, then fine - but it   
hadn't been that. He'd been a victim of mind control, just like her. The   
Jammers hadn't believed her, and she hadn't believed him.  
"You'd better keep your arms crossed," Garam said. "Else the people   
round here'll think you're - uh - a lady my mama wouldn't want me to be   
hanging out with."  
Piranha grinned. "Don't tell me you haven't seen this sort of thing   
before."  
"What's that supposed to mean?" He sounded tense.   
"Oh, come on." Piranha felt slightly embarrassed, but told herself not   
to. He was a guy, after all. "You're hardly pure as driven snow, are you?"  
"Then what do you think I am?" Garam snapped.   
"Garam, I'm sorry..." she began.  
He sighed. "Don't be. You're right, I guess. I'm not exactly a saint. I   
tried to be a nice guy, but I don't think I'm cut out for it."  
"If you weren't a nice guy, you wouldn't be helping me now. You   
could have ignored me, or you could have just led the Jammers away and left   
me to get out on my own."  
"You've changed your tune. So I'm not a thug any more, am I?"  
She didn't meet his eyes. "No."  
"Thanks for that."  
Piranha looked at him, seeing the hurt in his posture and eyes. She put   
her arms round him, and kissed him. It was the best thing that had happened all   
day.  
  
The room is darker now. The figures are no longer so dormant.  
"So tell me." A voice parched from frequent smoke inhalation breaks   
the silence. "What does he want us to do?"  
"According to this e-mail, we're only to go after one sort of rudie." This   
speaker is letting his whip fly out around the room, twisting and turning in a   
controlled dance. "Members of this gang the GGs. They're the ones we all   
came up against before."  
"Oh, good," purrs a third voice as its owner smirks. "It'll be a blast. So   
how do we recognise these punks?"  
"Apparently they look just like normal regular kids, but with skates. No   
set uniform or anything." The man catches the end of his whip and recoils it.   
"So you see a skater, you smash 'em."  
"Sounds easy enough," grunts another man as sparks flicker in the air   
around him.   
The last speaker clears his throat, and when the others are silent says   
simply, "Don't forget. Just rough them up a little. Except for one."  
"Hee...the lucky winner..."  
"Yep. One rudie has to disappear."  
"Oh, come on, give us a break. We got the plan. We got the strategy.   
We got the flamethrowers..."  
"Then, gentlemen, let us proceed."  
Footsteps. Soon the room is empty. The evil has left it.   
The streets are not the place to be.  
  
Five figures reached the street outside the Rokkaku HQ, and climbed into a   
long black limousine. The air chilled as the car slunk through the traffic, and   
the shadows got sharper.  
"Tab, what is it?" Amy said. She was wearing his skates, and letting   
him lead her along the bus terminal pavement.  
Tab shrugged. "I dunno. It's just...something's strange..."  
  
"Something's wrong," Beat said, stopping dead in the middle of the half-pipe.   
"It - it feels like..."  
"A storm." The wind picked up, flicking Gum's blonde hair around her   
face. "There's gonna be a storm..."  
  
"I think we ought to get back," Garam said to Piranha as the shadows they   
stood in grew colder.   
Piranha shivered. "Let's. It's freezing out here..."  
  
"Where's the sun gone?" Mew glanced up at the sky above the Benten   
skyscrapers. It was becoming darker and darker.   
"Don't ask me." Yo-Yo's face had lost its annoying grin for once. He   
was slightly pale. "But I don't like it out here..."  
  
"Is it just me, or did you hear thunder?" Slate asked Combo and Cube.  
"Yeah...I think we should get under cover." Combo looked over at   
Cube.   
She was bone-white. "You guys...I'm scared...this seems familiar. I   
think - I think something bad is going to happen..."  
  
A huge clap of thunder tore open the air.  
And the assassins struck.  
In the bus terminal an explosion rocked the ground. Amy turned, and   
saw, through the smoke filling the area, a figure clutching two flaming   
bottles...his arm drew back to throw them...  
"Run!" Tab yelled. He grabbed Amy's arm and started to dash. Amy,   
still wearing the skates, could do nothing but let him wheel her along and   
desperately try and keep her balance.  
BANG. Amy stumbled, coughing as sharp smoke surrounded her. Her   
eyes watered. Through the tears she saw Tab turn, grab her hand again and   
pull her onwards.   
"It's no good..." she choked.   
"Don't...be dumb..." Tab was coughing as well. "Move it!"  
BANG.  
Amy was thrown off her feet. She screamed, and then closed her eyes   
as the side of a bus rushed towards her.  
  
"Come on," Beat said to Gum. "The air's all static."  
"It's okay, it's not the highest point here...we're pretty much safe in the   
half-pipe..."  
She heard a crackling.   
"Huh?" She could feel her hair rising up, even under her helmet. She   
nervously touched Beat's arm, and yelped as a shock bit her fingers. "What's   
going on?"  
As they headed towards the bend in the half-pipe, the static got worse.   
Jet Set Radio started to stagger. Gum's nose itched as individual strands of   
hair flicked past it.   
They turned the corner.   
A glittering figure stood there, sparks wreathing him like a cage.  
"Uh-oh..." she heard Beat gulp.  
Gum looked back down the half-pipe. It was a dead-end. Typical, she   
thought, mind racing. Sometimes I think this is all just happening for other   
people's amusement.  
The figure raised an arm. Gum swallowed back fear. "We're gonna   
have to rush him or something," she whispered to Beat.   
"No...maybe he won't be able to hit us with that stuff...if we're   
careful...Just stay away from him."  
Lightning flashed in the sky. Gum could hear static humming in her   
ears. The whole world seemed charged.   
Two strings of electricity leapt from the cage. Towards the two GGs.  
Gum felt a massive force shove her as the sparks hit. She saw Beat   
shudder, then fall to the ground, and wanted to help him, but everything was   
fading...she could smell burning...  
She closed her eyes and let unconsciousness cope with life for a bit.  
  
Garam blinked. What was that sound? A sort of tearing, hissing, melting   
sound...  
A familiar sound.   
"Piranha, run!" he called.  
"What? What's that noise?"  
"Flamethrowers! And there's only one person I know who'd have a   
flamethrower, and it ain't Santa Claus -"  
"You're right there, GG." A figure stepped round the corner. "That   
your girl? Looks like she's been baked enough already...we don't want to   
overcook her. Not!"  
"You get away from her," Garam shouted, boiling with rage. "You just   
leave her alone!"  
"What if I don't?" The figure's voice was low and teasing. A tongue of   
flame leapt from the object he held in his hand. Garam felt the heat on his face.   
"Garam, run!" Piranha said from behind him.   
"Let the little lady come to me," laughed the figure, twirling the flames   
in the air. Smoke stung Garam's eyes. "It's so nice of you to take your top   
off," he murmured to Piranha. "Burning through cloth is a bit of a waste...it's   
much easier just to go straight onto the skin."  
"I said, leave her alone," Garam said, fighting not to think about Piranha   
burning, Piranha screaming, Piranha dead...  
The figure advanced. "In your dreams, GG."  
Garam rushed forward, temper lost, desperate to protect his girl...the   
flamethrower swung, and its body caught Garam on the head. As pain   
exploded through his brain and he began to black out, he heard Piranha scream.  
  
"Mew, look out!" Yo-Yo grabbed Mew's wrist and dragged her down as   
bullets peppered the side of the walkway.  
"What's going on?" Mew gasped.  
"Look!"  
They glanced upwards, and saw a huge batlike figure silhouetted against   
the sky.   
"That looks familiar..." groaned Mew.  
"Yeah, it's Batman!"  
"No, you prat, it's Assassin Number 2! Let's get out of here!"  
Another bullet struck the wall behind them.   
"Oh, man..." Yo-Yo muttered.  
"Crawling might be a good idea." Mew started to wriggle forward.  
"No, Mew, watch out -"  
Mew was thrown forward by the bullet striking her.  
"Mew!" Forgetting the danger, Yo-Yo stood up and dashed towards   
her. He didn't notice the Assassin coming up behind him until a wingtip   
caught him on the head and bowled him into darkness.  
  
Cube heard the crack of a whip, and looked round Benten Square. Iciness   
covered her heart as a familiar figure leapt down from one of the buildings to   
land in front of them.  
"I remember you," he snarled. "You're one of those Bantam Street   
pests. This time you're not getting away!"  
The whip swung. Cube dived out of the way, and it smashed onto the   
sidewalk. She saw Combo and Slate, both tagging some distance away, and   
yelled, "You guys, run!"  
CRACK. The whip caught her collarbone. She heard it break. Sick   
pain began to strangle her. She staggered...  
"Cube!" She felt Combo grab her arm, and shrieked as he jarred the   
broken bone. Combo swung her over his shoulder in a fireman's lift, then   
began to dash. Cube looked back, tears forcing themselves from her eyes. The   
Assassin was chasing them. She saw Slate dashing up behind him, saw the   
Assassin turn, whip following his movements like a snake...saw it catch Slate   
across the face, and send him spinning back across the square...saw their   
pursuer catch up with them. She was slowing Combo down...  
"It hurts..." she gasped. She tried not to think about the pain, but it kept   
pushing its way back into her thoughts.   
"It's no good..." groaned Combo. "Sorry, kid..."  
CRACK.  
The whip knocked Combo's feet from under him. Cube fell to the   
ground, crying out as it hit the fracture. Combo threw himself over her, trying   
to protect her, as the whip beat down on them both.   
Combo grunted as the Assassin's foot caught him in the face. "Give up,   
rudie," the man taunted.   
Combo fell, face bleeding. Before Cube could get to him, the whip   
struck her again, and the pain roared over her and dragged her into oblivion.   
  
Tab watched as Amy hit the side of the bus and crumpled like a dead moth.   
She dropped to the ground, and Tab yelled her name without even realising it.  
He was dashing over to her when he heard footsteps, and a snigger.   
Looked round, and saw the Assassin bearing down on him, one hand clutching   
a flaming bottle.   
He's gonna hit me with that, Tab thought, his mind surveying the scene   
calmly, and I'm gonna die.   
He threw his hands up in front of his face as the flames approached -   
The Assassin stopped. He leaned closer to Tab, and whispered in a   
voice whose owner just knew he was the cleverest thing alive, "Scared ya,   
didn't I, rudie? I haven't been told to rub you all out this time, so I guess you   
got lucky. But next time, I'm gonna make sure none of you punks are left   
alive."  
And then he turned and walked away.  
For a few moments Tab just sat there. Then he got up, and wriggled   
across to Amy.  
He sat with her for a time he couldn't measure, not knowing what to do.   
He wondered if this was what shock felt like.  
Eventually, she blinked, and opened her eyes.  
"Ohhh...what's happening?"  
"It's okay," Tab said, throat dry from the smoke. "He's gone. He's   
gone."  
Amy shivered. "But who was it?"  
"One of the Assassins. One of the Golden Rhino Assassins."  
"Do you think Koji was on to us?" Amy said.  
"I don't know."   
"What about the others?"  
Tab swallowed, suddenly remembering that all the people he had in the   
world were out there - somewhere - and -   
"We've got to find them," he gasped. "Give me my skates back. We'll   
check out the garage, and then go search the streets."  
They hurried through Shibuya, the shadows widening as the sky clouded   
over.   
The garage was empty. Tab noticed Amy's head was bleeding, and   
made her sit down.   
"I'll go look myself," he said.   
"But I'll be fine..."  
"No, you stay there, okay? I think you should see a doctor for that, but   
you just stay there! We don't know where they've gone, and I'm the one not   
hurt."  
"If you insist," Amy said, and leant back on the sofa. She was holding a   
tea towel to her head, and Tab could see it slowly beginning to turn deep red.   
"Just don't panic or anything," he said, hurrying to the door. "And if the   
Assassins come here - uh - call - uh - call anyone!"  
And then he dashed out.   
  
Amy closed her eyes, trying to keep calm. But slowly the fear oozed back, and   
she began to tremble without even wanting to.   
Suddenly there was a knock on the door.  
Amy froze. If they'd come back to finish her...  
The person knocked again, and a voice called, "Is...is anyone there?"  
Amy recognised it. She got up and opened the door.   
Slate, Cube and Combo were outside. Slate had a vicious cut down the   
side of his face, Combo a faceful of bruises and blood, and Cube was   
unconscious.  
"Assassins?" Amy said.  
"You got it. Where is everyone?" Slate looked round the garage.  
Amy shrugged. She was so tired... "Out in the streets. Tab's gone to   
look for them. What's happened to Cube?"  
"I think he broke her shoulder or something," Combo said, the words   
angry. "Pain made her faint. Thought he was gonna finish us off too, but he   
just ran after he hurt her."  
Combo carefully laid Cube down on the sofa. She cried out as he did   
so, and opened her eyes.   
"Don't worry," Slate said. "We're gonna get you to hospital soon as we   
know the streets are safe."  
Cube blinked, and Amy saw tears on her pale skin.   
"It was...it was Assassin #5, wasn't it?" Cube said. Her voice was very   
quiet.  
"Yep."  
"They really are back."  
"Yep."  
Cube closed her eyes. "I'm not being chicken," she said. "I'll be fine.   
I'm just a little - uh - freaked out, I guess..."  
"We all are," Amy said.  
"Yeah. I nearly had a heart attack when he leapt off that building,"   
Combo said. "So don't worry."  
"All the others are out there?" Slate said.   
"Yeah." Amy felt blood soaking through to her fingertips. "And I don't   
know if any of them are okay."  
  
Tab skated through Shibuya, trying to keep a cool head. He'd met Mew and   
Yo-Yo staggering in from Benten, Yo-Yo dizzily supporting Mew, whose arm   
had been soaked with blood. They'd been making for the garage. So he'd   
headed on to find the other four.   
Garam and Piranha were in Kogane as far as anybody knew. But Beat   
and Gum were in Shibuya. Which meant he could come across them at any   
moment.   
Tab allowed himself to consider the possibility that they might be dead.   
It frightened him. They were his oldest friends. The thought of having to cope   
with their loss made him feel like he wanted to hide. Skating now, knowing he   
might come across them at any moment...or what was left of them...no, they   
couldn't be dead, they just couldn't.  
He'd reached the halfpipe. Little spats of rain were beginning to speckle   
the ground as he jumped into it.   
He skated for quite some time before he found them. Beat was lying   
like he was asleep. Gum was sitting up, staring at him, eyes unfocused.  
"Gum?" Tab went nervously nearer. "Are you all right?"  
"Assassins..." Gum said, her voice shaking. She was very pale, and   
Tab could see sweat shining on her face.   
"It's okay," Tab said. "They've gone." He dropped down next to her.   
Her breathing was very fast.  
"I'm scared..."  
She'll never admit this when she's over it, Tab thought. "Don't worry.   
We'll get you back to the garage."  
Gum wrapped her arms around herself, shivering. Tab saw with a jolt   
that the sleeve of her left arm was burnt away, and her skin was raw and   
blistered.   
"What about Beat?" she whispered.   
"We'll help him, too." How, Tab wasn't quite sure. He didn't want to   
send Gum back to the garage on her own - she was in no state to skate - but on   
the other hand he didn't want to leave Beat. Both of them, he could see, had   
been burnt somehow - Beat on his right shoulder and upper arm - and, unlike   
Combo, Tab wasn't strong enough to carry either of them. Especially not out   
of a halfpipe.  
But they were both breathing, which had to be a good thing.   
"I'll go find a phone box," he said at last. "Will you be okay here on   
your own?"  
Gum nodded, but she didn't look okay.   
"Don't worry," Tab said. "I'm here now, it's all gonna be fine."  
Gum grinned slightly. "SuperTab to the rescue, huh?"  
"Something like that." He got to his feet and headed off towards the   
gate up to the street.   
He located a phone box and made a 911 call, then headed back to the   
half pipe. Gum's head had fallen forward, and she looked drained.  
"I called an ambulance," Tab said. "You better get your skates and   
helmet off. Try and look not like a rudie."  
She must be suffering from shock, he thought, as Gum slowly began to   
undo her skates. He began to take off Beat's, and said, "What'll you tell the   
ambulance guys?"  
"I don't know. If the Rhinos are - are back, people should know. But I   
don't think they'll believe us...and we aren't supposed to be down here   
anyway."  
"Just act like you can't remember, then," Tab said. He picked up Gum's   
skates and helmet, and Beat's skates, goggles and headphones. "I'll hide these   
further down."  
When he came back, two paramedics had reached the halfpipe and were   
loading the two rudies onto stretchers. Tab ducked back out of sight. When   
they'd been taken out of the halfpipe up to the ambulance, he waited a few   
minutes, then climbed out himself.  
Garam and Piranha. Were they still out there?  
He decided to head back to the garage and see what had happened to   
everyone.   
The streets were really dark now. Although it was only eleven in the   
morning, it looked like dusk. A few people hurried by, hair whipped by the   
wind, faces crumpled against the rain. The streets were getting quieter and   
quieter, the only sound the rain puddling on the ground.  
Tab reached the garage. Praying that all the others would be back there,   
he opened the door, and stared round.  
Cube. Slate. Combo. Amy. Mew. Yo-Yo. But no Garam or Piranha.  
Where were they?   
Tab admitted to himself that he was scared.  
"Are the others okay?" Mew asked. Someone had bandaged her arm   
with a towel, but it was bleeding still.  
"Beat and Gum are in hospital. I don't know about Garam and Piranha.   
Look, we need to get down to casualty. I haven't seen any of the Assassins - I   
guess they must have gone to ground. Who's damaged, Amy?"  
His girlfriend looked round the room. "Cube's broken her   
collarbone...Mew's got a bullet in the arm...Yo-Yo and I got cuts on the   
head...Combo and Slate are mainly bruised."   
"Okay, then. We'll start heading down there in -"  
The door flew open behind him.  
Garam stood there, soaked to the skin, blood trickling down his face, his   
chest rising and falling as he struggled to breathe.  
"Garam, are you okay?" Mew gasped.  
Garam shook his head. He was trembling.  
"What's happened?" Slate said. "Where's Piranha?"  
Garam was clutching something in his hand. He let it drop to the   
ground. It was scorched and smoke-blackened, but they all recognised it.   
Piranha's goggles.  
"She's -" Garam swallowed. His voice was clouded with tears. "They   
got her. I got knocked out - when I woke up, they'd gone - all gone - only this   
left - they - Piranha is..."  
His voice broke, but he raised his head and looked round them all.  
"Piranha is dead."  
  



	8. When Darkness Falls

Chapter 07 - When Darkness Falls   
  
(I don't own JSR (unfortunately - if I did, I could make them bring out the sequel on Dreamcast and then I could buy it) although I do own Amy and her aunt, and Breaker. Please r+r!)   
  
It was late evening of the next day when they found the body.   
Amy, Garam, and Tab were skating in Benten-cho together. Amy, who   
was practising on skates but wasn't risking a tagging session with them yet,   
was waiting on the bridge for Tab to get back from the walkway area. Garam   
was with her.   
He hadn't spoken at all since he'd stumbled in the day before. Amy was   
secretly glad. She didn't know what to say to him. What could you say to   
someone who'd suffered that sort of loss?   
Suddenly a voice called from the train tracks below, "Hey, GGs!"   
They glanced over the railings of the bridge. It was a Noise Tank, his   
pale suit ghost-like against the dark ground.   
"What?" Amy answered.   
"We heard you lost a member," the Noise Tank said, his voice sombre.   
"There's - uh - a body down here. If it's yours, you might want it to pay your   
respects to."   
Amy saw Garam tense.   
"Do you want to see?" she whispered. "If not, I'll go on my own..."   
"No," Garam said, his voice dry. "I'll come."   
Tab came dashing towards them. They explained the situation, and   
made their way to the siding.   
The Noise Tank was waiting for them.   
"We found it dumped here this afternoon," he said. "We put it behind   
one of the boxes."   
Amy gripped Tab's hand as they followed the Noise Tank towards the   
box. She swallowed.   
It didn't appear to ever have been human.   
She wasn't able to look at the powdery charred skin, the twisted,   
blackened limbs. This couldn't be the pretty girl who'd asked her about the   
bruises on her arm. It couldn't be.   
Garam knelt down. He picked up what might have been a wrist.   
"This is Piranha's watch," he whispered. His voice made tears come to   
Amy's eyes.   
"Leave it, Garam," Tab said, his voice hoarse.   
Garam covered his face with his hands. Amy heard his breathing catch   
in the silence of the night.   
"Thanks," Tab said to the Noise Tank. "I - we'll deal with her."   
"That's okay. I'm sorry." The Noise Tank sighed, and turned to make   
his way back to his base.   
On their way back Amy saw Rokkaku lorries driving round the city,   
stopping outside people's houses, handing out large cardboard boxes.   
"The free videos and computers," Tab said, dully.   
"Do you - do you think we should tell Camilla about this?" Amy said.   
"That's not a bad idea," Tab said. "Maybe she'll know something we   
could use. You reckon you could write to her?"   
"Sure." They turned the corner, and Amy's heart beat faster. This was   
her old street.   
She held her head up as they passed the house. It was dark. There were   
no trucks visiting it.   
I've escaped, she told herself. I've escaped.   
But her stomach still rolled with fear, and she felt icy sweat break out all   
over her skin.   
What's the point? she thought. Maybe this is what life is really like.   
Murder and people being hurt and loss and pain.   
"Maybe I should go back and let her kill me."   
"Amy?" Tab was looking at her in horror.   
"I tried to escape, and now someone's dead." The thoughts were   
bubbling up into her brain like lava. "Nowhere anywhere seems safe.   
Everyone is cruel."   
Tab looked at Garam, who was striding along ahead of them. "No," he   
said. "You're wrong."   
"You think? You've been hurt too. Worse than me."   
"I still live," Tab said. "And I can still care. And there's Garam - he's   
hurting like mad, but that's because he loved Piranha. Bad things happen, but   
not everyone does that sorta stuff. As long as someone still loves...I   
mean...even if people die, if someone will mourn for 'em, then you can't say   
everyone's cruel. And Piranha has ten of us to mourn for her."   
"Thank you." Amy hugged him, and buried her face in his boiler suit.   
  
The funeral took place in a patch of waste ground in Shibuya-cho, after Beat   
and Gum had been discharged from hospital. It was a drizzly day, and rain   
clung to their faces in a mist.   
Typical weather for mourning, Amy thought, as she stood with the other   
GGs. She'd crept back to the house at a time when she knew her aunt would be   
out, and got herself a black skirt and top to wear for this. The other GGs had   
done the same sort of thing - Beat had exchanged his yellow shirt for a black   
one, Yo-Yo was wearing a purple anorak instead of his lime-green one, Mew   
had somehow gained herself a navy leotard. The others wore black armbands,   
torn from one of Combo's old shirts, and Combo and Garam had left off their   
jewellery.   
Piranha had been buried in a cheap coffin that Tab had procured from   
who knew where. Combo had dug the grave, and now, as the others watched,   
he carefully tipped the coffin into it.   
Garam stepped forward. He dropped a bunch of flowers into the grave,   
on top of the coffin. Then Combo began to bury it.   
Each person tagged their name on the wall behind the grave. Above the   
names was an X-tra large tag that said Piranha - we'll never forget you.   
Amy let the tears wriggle down her face. She hadn't known Piranha that   
well, but the sheer horror of the death, and the pain she could see in Garam's   
face, was hurting her as much as much as the loss was hurting the others.   
Beat stepped forward. His voice was husky as he said, "Piranha, you   
were a great GG. We're really gonna miss you. Don't forget us, wherever you   
are."   
Mew sniffed, and rubbed a hand across her eyes, smearing her makeup   
over to one side of her face.   
On top of the grave they put a small cross, with Piranha's name and   
approximate dates on it. Then they turned and walked away.   
Garam wouldn't walk with anyone else.   
The girls were all crying, even Gum, who kept her mouth savagely shut   
as the tears fell, and the guys looked as though they might, would or had been.   
They reached the garage at last. For a few minutes everyone just sat in   
silence, and then Garam sat up and said, "I'm going to kill him."   
"Who?" Yo-Yo asked.   
"Koji Rokkaku."   
"What?" Everyone looked at him in amazement.   
"I mean it," Garam said, his voice low with rage. "He doesn't care   
about a dead rudie. I'm gonna make him care. I'm going into that building and   
I'm going to kill him."   
"Are you crazy?" Mew said, voice thick with tears. "He'll squash you.   
And you'll never get in there anyway."   
"I tell you I'm going!" Garam got to his feet.   
"No, you're not." Beat got up as well. "Garam, I know you're upset,   
we all are, but you're not going to do this. It's crazy."   
"You shut up and quit telling me what to do," Garam snapped. "Now   
move out of my way."   
"No."   
Their eyes met. Amy could feel the tension bubble and growl around   
them.   
"Beat," Garam said, slowly, dangerously. "Get out of the way."   
"No."   
Then Garam punched him. Beat dropped like a stone. Garam gave him   
a harsh kick to the ribs, then ran.   
Gum rushed over to Beat. "Are you okay?"   
"Yeah...yeah, I've had worse." Beat slowly got to his feet.   
"Hadn't we better go after him?" Cube said.   
"Nah. In his present mood he'll just freak out."   
"But he's going to attack the Rokkaku HQ!"   
"I'll go after him," Amy said. "I haven't got skates, he won't notice me.   
I'll see you guys later."   
She got up and hurried outside.   
Garam was dashing down the street. Amy quickly hurried after him,   
worried he'd hear her - but he seemed intent on his own thoughts.   
It was getting rainier. Amy shivered. A coat would be nice. She   
followed Garam through the grey streets. Soon they'd reached the Rokkaku   
building. It was glittering in the wintry light.   
Garam stared up at it. Amy could see his shoulders shaking. She   
considered what to do now. Trying to subdue him physically wouldn't work.   
Should she try talking to him?   
"Garam," she called. "Wait up!"   
She didn't expect him to respond, but he did, turning towards her with a   
face full of fury. Amy met it calmly.   
"What do you want?" he demanded.   
"I came to make sure you were okay."   
"Well, you can just go back again. This is none of your business."   
"I can't do that." Amy faced him through the webs of rain between   
them. "If I went away and then you went in there and died, I'd never forgive   
myself. This isn't for you, it's for me."   
"I don't care if I die," Garam said. "I feel like I've fallen into some   
alternate reality. She's dead. I just need to get out of here and find her again,   
and - and -"   
His voice broke, and he quickly slammed a tough mask onto his   
features.   
"She won't want you to do this. Wherever she is now, she won't want   
you to. You ask her if she wants to see you die, she'll say no."   
"Well, I didn't want her to die either." Garam stared up at the Rokkaku   
building. "And Koji Rokkaku doesn't care about her, or know how I feel, or   
anything."   
"Listen!" Amy snapped. "There's something big going on here, bigger   
than anything that's happened so far. The Assassins are let out, but they only   
kill one person. Koji claims he's trying to lead the company to new hope, yet   
he's reading up on the Devil's Contract. Jet Set Radio is blasted by mind   
control music. Camilla tells us she's scared of what's going on. If we could   
prove Koji was doing something crazy, he'd either be destroyed by whatever   
forces he's mucking around with, or he'd be arrested and charged with   
murder."   
"And what good'll that do?" Garam sneered. "He's got pots of money.   
He'll put up his own bail, hire the best lawyers, and be back here before we   
know it."   
"And do you think anyone will trust this corporation again? He'll be   
ruined. Whereas if you kill him you'll get caught and either get the electric   
chair or at least life imprisonment. That's if you even manage to kill him.   
Piranha loved you and she doesn't want that to happen to you, and nor do I -   
nor do any of us!"   
There was a long silence, broken only by the pattering of the rain around   
them.   
Then Garam shrugged. "All right."   
Amy smiled with relief.   
"But if there's something going on," Garam said, "I want to check it out.   
A little spying, Miss Winters?"   
"You don't mean -"   
"Look, Amy. You talked me out of my first idea, but we got to do   
something. If you're right, about what you said, then we might be Tokyo-to's   
only hope. Again."   
"Well, you'd better try not to look so rudie-ish, then," Amy said,   
studying him.   
"That's not easy. You're okay, but me..."   
"You can at least take your skates off."   
Garam rolled his eyes, but he did what she said, putting his skates   
behind a cluster of dustbins near them.   
"Let's go," he said.   
Suddenly a voice from behind them said, "Go where?"   
They both jumped. Behind them stood Breaker.   
Garam scowled. "Boy, Breaker, don't do that. You nearly gave us a   
heart attack."   
Breaker shrugged. "Sorry. So, go where?"   
"In there," Garam said, indicating the Rokkaku HQ. "We're spying."   
"Can I come?" Breaker asked.   
"Why d'you want to?" Amy said.   
"I've got a score to settle with the Rokkakus, and I want to know what's   
going on as much as you do."   
"Sure," Garam said. "Any ideas on how to get in?"   
Breaker looked up at the building. "My cousin used to work here.   
Follow me."   
He headed round the back of the building, and reached a door. He   
glanced from side to side, then opened it. Garam and Amy followed him   
inside.   
Down a small, dusty corridor. Amy wrinkled her nose at the smell of   
mildew. This was a far cry from what she'd seen before. Breaker led them   
round a corner or two, and finally they reached a dead end.   
"Hang on," whispered Breaker. He seemed to be listening to something.   
Then he nodded, and pushed against the wall.   
It swung open.   
"Sweet," Garam murmured as they stepped out into a large, airy office.   
"I've never been in this building myself," Breaker said. "But he told me   
a lot about it."   
"Where shall we head to?" Amy whispered. "Koji's gonna be in his   
office - we can hardly go look around there." This was very different from the   
last time she'd been in the building. Then it had been silent. Now, all around   
her, she could sense the hum of voices.   
Suddenly they heard footsteps coming towards them. "Quick!" Breaker   
hissed, and they all dashed back into the secret passage.   
As Breaker pulled the secret door shut, Amy heard a woman saying,   
"...You think something's going on?"   
"Mr and Miss Rokkaku have been looking daggers at each other all day.   
They've had words."   
"I suppose you didn't catch what these words were about?"   
"Camilla accused Koji of something. Said he'd gone too far."   
"What he say to that?"   
"He acted like he knew nothing about it. There's definitely something   
funny going on, though. I got sent to print out some forms from his computer -   
by Camilla - he'd left them behind and he needed them for a meeting - and I   
saw a file on there and I accidentally clicked on that instead of the one I was   
meant to..."   
"Sure. I believe you. Thousands wouldn't..."   
"Oh, shut up...anyway, it was this weird blueprint..."   
"Of what?"   
"I don't know. Something to do with the free videos and computers   
we've been giving out."   
"So?"   
"There were two blueprints."   
"Now you lost me."   
"No, listen. There was the regular blueprint, titled The Rokkaku   
Processor 01, and there was this other one I opened, titled DC01. And they   
were different, but I didn't have time to look closely. Don't you think it's   
weird he'd have two blueprints?"   
"No, I don't. I think it's normal, and I think snooping around on the   
boss's computer is a very dangerous idea."   
"Spoilsport. Uh-oh, we'd better get moving."   
Heels clicked on the floor, and then the sound faded away.   
"What do you think?" Garam asked Amy. "Is it something fishy?"   
"Could be. DC...it's far-fetched, but it could stand for Devil's Contract.   
But it's not proof, is it?"   
"Then maybe we should have a proper look on the boss's computer,"   
Breaker said. He pushed open the panel, and the three rudies stumbled out. "I   
can access that one from this terminal." He pointed to the one on the desk.   
"You sure it's safe?" Amy said. "Whose office is this?"   
"Don't worry," Garam said. "I'll guard the door, and if anyone comes,   
I'll yell."   
"Okay." Breaker sat down at the computer, leaning his crutch against   
the desk. He switched it on, and waited.   
Please give your password.   
Breaker typed quickly.   
"How're you doing this?" Amy asked.   
"My cousin told me how."   
The computer whirred, and then a Desktop came up the screen, with a   
Rokkaku symbol for the background.   
Breaker opened a program that Amy didn't recognise, and began typing   
again. She didn't understand what he was doing. Turning away, she surveyed   
the office. It was pretty neat, no papers scattered on the desk or rubbish on the   
floor. A dying pot plant was on the windowsill, its leaves dragging over the   
painted surface.   
"Bingo," Breaker said, and she turned back to look.   
The computer was covered with reams of writing. Amy studied it.   
It all goes well. I accessed my father's notes today. His plot was   
foolish, the concoction of a madman, but he was right insofar as he wished the   
name of Rokkaku to become a symbol for power...   
  
That entry was dated about a month earlier. Amy scrolled down to another   
paragraph.   
  
Time to show those rudies who's really in control. Once they've found   
themselves drawing rhinos they'll know it's happening again. I admit the   
music is a stroke of genius - the power of those mind-control helmets combined   
with my own subtlety...   
  
"Seems pretty conclusive to me," Amy said.   
"Check out what he says about Assassins," Garam spat out. "See if he   
remembered to mention that."   
Amy scrolled further down the document. She found the relevant entry,   
and read it out for Garam's benefit.   
  
Next step - bring back the Famous Five. Everything must be as it was before.   
This is not only a quest for myself, but a tribute to my father. If only one rudie   
dies, then that will show the others I'm serious...yet there will still be others to   
show. Soon all will be ready. Soon the name of Rokkaku shall be made great   
again.   
  
Amy glanced at Garam. His hands had curled into fists, but he was   
silent.   
"What's next?" Breaker asked. "You may as well know what's going to   
happen."   
Amy looked at the section written that day.   
  
It's all prepared! The date draws near. Just one last piece of preparation. I   
can hardly believe I'm getting this close. Nothing must go wrong. Nothing.   
  
"What date?" Amy said. "The date on which he...unleashes   
something?"   
"What date would that be?" Breaker asked.   
"I don't know." Garam walked across. "You reckon the cops'd believe   
us if we showed 'em this?"   
"Not necessarily. We could have written it ourselves," Amy said. She   
sighed. "If only there was something more..."   
"There isn't," Breaker said. "I've checked. This file alone is rigorously   
password-protected, and it's the only one with suspicious contents."   
"But I don't get what he's going to do," Amy said. "Tab said the record   
was a hoax. Does he just believe something occult's going to happen?"   
"If he does he really is crazy. He sounds like he's preparing for   
something, though, doesn't he?" Breaker clicked on Print and waited as the   
printer clattered into life. "I think we should make a copy," he said. "Even if   
it's not conclusive proof, the rest of your gang may want to see it."   
The document finished printing. Breaker folded it up and handed it to   
Garam. "Now let's get out of here," he said.   
  
"What date?" Beat said, rereading Koji's thoughts for the fifth time. "There   
weren't any other hints?"   
"I've told you, no." Garam sighed. "And we still don't seem any closer   
to doing anything!"   
Amy took the paper from Beat and scanned it again. One phrase jumped   
out at her: Everything must be as it was before.   
"Beat?" she said. "How long is it since Goji tried to release that   
demon?"   
"Hmm? It must be about a year now..." He suddenly realised what she   
was getting at. "Of course! He'll do it at exactly the same time and place."   
"Which is when?"   
"Uh...I don't know."   
"Beat!" Garam yelled. "Stop being so dumb! You must remember!"   
"Well...it was this month. But I can't remember the exact date, can I?   
Anyone else?"   
Amy looked round the garage. Silence and blank faces abounded.   
"This is ridiculous," Beat said. "Didn't anyone write it down? You   
know, Go And Save World Tonight?"   
"Sorry," Yo-Yo said. "I've got last year's calendar, though."   
"I didn't know we had a calendar."   
"Well, we did, and I...uh...saved it. Hang on."   
He got to his feet and ran into the other room. Soon he came back   
clutching a rather battered-looking calendar. Amy could see why he had saved   
it - each month was accompanied by a picture of a girl in a deeply skimpy   
bikini.   
"I don't want to think of what you've been doing with this..." Gum said.   
"Get to February."   
Yo-Yo found the relevant month. It was blank.   
"Woah, real helpful," Gum said sarcastically.   
"No, think about it," Beat said. "Today's the 13th, and nothing's   
happened yet, so that rules out the 1st to the 12th. Now, come on. Did Goji do   
it before or after Valentine's Day?"   
There was a long pause.   
"What happened on Valentine's Day?" Gum asked at last.   
"Ummm...I sort of forgot it," Beat said quickly. "But when I   
remembered I got you a box of chocolates..."   
"That was a week later," Gum muttered.   
"And did you get the chocolates before or after the Rokkaku business?"   
Breaker said. He was sitting on the sofa, his crutch leaning against it.   
"I remember!" Beat said. "It was on Valentine's Day that I remembered   
I'd forgotten it, but that was also the day all the Assassins turned up, so I never   
got round to buying anything until after it was all cleared up."   
"We saved Benten the night before Goji played the record," Garam said.   
"The next night we were up on the Rokkaku building. So that must have   
been..."   
"15th February," Tab said. "There you are. He'll do it in two days   
time."   
"So what do we do?" Gum said. "No one'll believe us. And we don't   
even know what he's going to do, do we?"   
"Well, we can tell Camilla. Warn her," said Tab. "See if she's noticed   
anything. And someone can go back and see if there are any other clues."   
"More spying?" Gum groaned.   
"Yeah, that's a good idea," Beat said. "You and Amy can go up there   
tonight."   
"What?" both girls yelled.   
"You can't be serious," Gum snarled. "I refuse to go with her."   
"Look," Beat said, "Amy's been there twice. She knows the place. And   
Gum, you're real observant and you're also tough if necessary. So you can   
both go there when most of the place'll be empty - like six or seven this   
evening."   
Gum gave both Amy and Beat poisonous looks. "Fine. Just don't   
blame me if she gets us both caught."   
"I'm sure she won't," Beat said, placatingly. "Teamwork is a wonderful   
thing."   
Gum muttered something under her breath, then got up and walked over   
to the door. "Well, I'd better enjoy my last moments of freedom before I get   
captured by the Assassins."   
Amy glared at the door as Gum slammed it behind her.   
I'll show her, she thought, and got up as well. "Tab, can I borrow your   
skates?"   
"Why?"   
"I'm gonna practise." She looked at her watch. One o'clock. That gave   
her five hours. She was going to learn to skate if it killed her.   
  
As Amy walked out of the garage, Tab turned to Beat. "You just put those two   
together to see what would happen, didn't you?"   
"No." Beat had a very straight face. "I had very good reasons for the   
decision."   
"Yeah. You wanted to see which one kills the other one first."   
"Well, maybe there was an element of - uh - experimentation in the   
choice, but come on. You never know, the danger and fear of the mission will   
cause them to bond and we won't have to listen to Gum making snide remarks   
all the time."   
"You really think that's likely?"   
"Well, no...but they're both smart. Hopefully they'll be there for each   
other when it comes to the crunch."   
"Yeah. Hopefully."   
  
It was half past six. Gum and Amy walked towards the Rokkaku building.   
Both were silent.   
Amy was on skates. She could now walk in them easily, but grinding   
was something she had to work on. But at least she could keep up with Gum   
now.   
They reached the building.   
"Well, how're we gonna get in?" Gum hissed.   
"Follow me." Amy led her round to the entrance Breaker had showed   
them. It was still open. They crept down the passageway and into the deserted   
office.   
"Now where?" Gum demanded.   
"I don't know. I've looked in Koji's office, I don't think there's   
anything else we can find in there. You got any ideas?"   
Gum looked thoughtful. "Well, if he's going to do everything the same   
as his dad, then I'd try the roof."   
"Huh?" Amy cursed herself as Gum smirked, obviously pleased at   
knowing something Amy didn't.   
"Goji played his music on the roof of the building. He had a whole set-   
up there. Koji will have to have done something if he wants everything to   
match."   
"Fine. Let's get moving."   
Amy gingerly pushed the office door open and stepped into the dark   
corridor. She really wasn't meant to be here, and she could feel nervousness   
prickling on her skin, but she wasn't going to let Gum know that.   
"Better not take the lift," she whispered. "It might be alarmed or   
something."   
They headed round the corner, and up the stairs.   
"Can't you grind?" Gum said as Amy started to climb.   
"Too fast and noisy," Amy retorted, and Gum rolled her eyes.   
Amy soon lost count of how many flights they'd climbed. Once she   
glanced over the banisters, and saw curls of staircase twisting away below them   
as they climbed higher and higher. She could smell floor polish, and hoped   
there were no cleaners around.   
At last they reached the floor with the Rokkakus's offices on. Now was   
the tricky part. Amy could hear footsteps above them, and voices. A mistake   
now would lead to disaster.   
"How many floors now?" Gum whispered.   
"Two left after this. And they're the ones which Koji and Camilla live   
on, so be quiet."   
"Yes, ma'am."   
Amy tried to ignore the sneering tone of Gum's voice, and headed for   
the staircase she'd come up on her last visit here. Now they were on the same   
floor as the Rokkakus, and she could hear their voices on the other side of the   
wall.   
"All the videos and computers...now they might start accepting us at   
last..."   
"Yes...but sales are still low...seems like it'll take a miracle to get us   
back to what we used to be..."   
"And just one more bit of bad press and we'll be knocked down for   
good."   
That was Koji. He sounded tense. Surely he wouldn't do what they   
thought? He must know the risks. If he didn't, he was crazy...   
Gum poked her in the back, and she edged towards the next staircase.   
Each footstep seemed painfully loud as they began to climb it.   
They reached the top floor. Amy glanced out of the window, and   
shivered at the sight of Tokyo-to spread out below them like a galaxy.   
There were two doors on this corridor, both shut, obviously leading to   
rooms.   
"What if we can't get onto the roof?" Amy whispered.   
"If Koji wants everything to be the same, he'll have some way of   
managing it."   
"How did you get up there on the old building?"   
"We came up on a fire escape."   
"That won't work this time. The fire escape on this building stops at   
this floor."   
"Well, sorry! You're so smart, you think of something!" Gum snapped.   
"Sssh!"   
The voices below stopped for a brief moment. Both girls went   
absolutely silent.   
At last they began again.   
"Sorry," Amy said. "Maybe we should check these rooms. I think it's   
their bedrooms. There might be a window you can use or something in   
Koji's."   
"Okay." Gum crept towards one of the doors and pushed it open. Then   
she shook her head. "Nope. Unless Koji wears lipstick, this ain't his room."   
She shut the door and turned to the next one. "Here goes."   
She opened it, and Amy followed her inside.   
The room was carpeted in a sensible dark maroon colour that muffled   
their footsteps as they walked. It was part of a suite of rooms, like a flat, and   
they stood in a living room. The chairs were creamy leather. It was all oddly   
neat. Facing them was a huge window with that amazing view of Tokyo-to and   
the night sky.   
"Sweet," Gum murmured. "Okay, let's start looking."   
Amy nodded, and they began to search. The whole apartment was neat   
and silent. Amy was prepared to bet that Koji didn't spend much time in it -   
and of course, he'd have cleaners. All the windows were large and wide,   
giving you an eyeful of the city wherever you looked, but there didn't seem to   
be either any incriminating evidence or any exits to the roof.   
"Amy!"   
She heard Gum call, and walked back through the living room to a   
bedroom, where the rudie was standing.   
"Look."   
There was a door on one side of the bedroom that Amy had assumed led   
to a cupboard. It was the same white as all the others in the place, but behind it   
there was a flight of about five or six steps.   
Gum gave her a smug smile. Amy didn't return it. "Are we going up   
there or not?"   
"Ooh, jealous?"   
Amy forced down a reply, and followed Gum up the steps. The ceiling   
was very low, and she had to keep her head bent. At the top was a small   
skylight.   
Gum squinted through it. She was taller than Amy, and blocked the   
view.   
"What can you see?" Amy whispered.   
Gum had gone very quiet.   
"Well?"   
"This is bad," Gum whispered. "This is very bad. Okay, Amy, you go   
down the steps and keep watch by the cupboard. I'm going out there."   
"Why do I have to keep watch?"   
"Because I know this bit better than you and I know what to look for.   
So move it."   
Amy marched down the steps again. Just one more bossy-boots-   
patronising order and she'd forget teamwork and give that girl a punch on the   
nose, and she'd enjoy it.   
She stepped back through the door, and stood there. "Are you going?"   
"Yup." She heard a clatter as Gum tried to open the skylight.   
Suddenly an alarm tore through the silence.   
"Gum, get out of there!" Amy yelled.   
Gum began to hurry down the steps. As she reached the bottom, a   
barred gate shot down over the doorway, trapping her on the steps.   
"Can you get up on the roof?" Amy yelled over the blaring siren.   
"No, it's locked!" Gum pushed at the gate, but it had fastened firm.   
"Trust Koji to alarm the one bit we really need..."   
There were running footsteps echoing along the corridor.   
"Get out of here!" Gum hissed.   
"But -"   
"I said, get out." And, as Amy looked reluctantly at her, "Listen,   
schoolgirl rudie, there's nothing you can do so go!"   
Amy ran.   
In the corridor the alarm was still going, and someone was coming up   
the stairs. Desperately, Amy looked for a hiding place. There was only one   
option that she could see. She wrenched open Camilla's apartment door and   
dashed inside. It was on the same layout as Koji's. She hurried to the bedroom   
and dived under the bed, where she lay, trying to get her breath, listening for   
sounds that would tell her what had happened.   
Footsteps ran past the door. They seemed to be filling the building.   
Amy lay on the smooth carpet, and heard Gum arguing with another voice.   
The gate rattled as it slid back up. Then footsteps in the corridor, out of step,   
one pair obviously in skates. They stumbled past the door, to the corner, then   
stopped. There was the hum of a lift, and they faded away.   
Amy lay quite still, and waited for her pulse to stop hammering so   
quickly. Eventually, when she was sure that she was alone again, she slid   
herself out from under the bed.   
Camilla's room was very different from Koji's. The materials there had   
been sensible, functional, smart. Camilla's bedcovers were silky-smooth, a   
deep blood-red. There had been no objects anywhere in Koji's rooms,   
everything had been put away. Camilla's dressing room was dotted with   
makeup of various sorts, there were several books and papers on her bedside   
table, and Amy could see three different pairs of shoes on the floor.   
But there were still those huge Tokyo-to views.   
What was going on? What was Koji going to do to the city?   
Amy shivered. She had to get back out and tell the others what had   
happened. There was nothing else she could do.   
  
Gum watched Amy dash out of the door, and tried not to panic. Her heart   
pounded, the beats pulsing up her throat. Once again she tried to open the door   
to the roof. No good.   
She heard a click as the door opened, and looked round to see Koji,   
Camilla, and two security guards coming towards her.   
"What are you doing here?" Koji demanded. "What's your name?"   
Gum folded her arms and didn't reply. The former action was more to   
stop her hands shaking than for any show of obstinacy.   
"She must have been trying to get up onto the roof," one of the security   
guards said. "Do you want me to call the police, sir?"   
Oh, man. Gum forced her face to remain tough. There was no way she   
was going to humiliate herself by breaking down.   
"I should say so," Koji snapped. "This is the last thing I need!"   
"Why, is there something important on the roof?" Camilla said. "It's   
only a balcony really, isn't it?"   
"That's not the point," Koji said. "I'm not tolerating theft, especially   
not from a rudie."   
"Who said I'm a thief?" Gum said.   
"Well, what else would you be doing here?"   
Gum swallowed. If Koji knew that she knew what was going on, she   
could be dead. On the other hand, he obviously wanted them to know what   
was going on, didn't he?   
"I was looking for information," Gum said at last. "There's something   
funny going on in this city, and you guys seem to be connected..." She let her   
voice trail off, and watched Koji and Camilla's reactions.   
Koji's eyes narrowed. "If you aren't careful," he growled, "I'll add   
slander to the theft charges."   
Camilla shrugged. "I did warn you, Koji. Something strange is going   
on here -"   
"Oh, do be quiet!" Koji roared at her. "No wonder the company's the   
way it is, with you going round encouraging rumours like that!"   
"Rumours?" Gum said. "That's not what I've heard. I've heard truth."   
For a moment she though Koji was going to have a heart attack. He   
stepped right up to the bars and snarled, "Listen, you thieving whore -"   
"Koji!" Camilla shoved him, hard, with her elbow. "You'll have to   
excuse my brother," she said. "He's a little tense at the moment. The pressures   
of business, you know."   
"I understand," said Gum. "I mean, trying to destroy Tokyo-to and take   
over the world...man, I'd be stressed too."   
Koji didn't say anything, but his dark eyes narrowed.   
"However," Camilla said, "I'm afraid that you have been found   
trespassing and so the police must be summoned."   
Gum sighed. She'd hoped she might get lucky like Tab and Amy had,   
but she supposed it was different when you'd broken into someone's actual   
bedroom.   
"Take her down to the basement and detain her there," Camilla said.   
"I'll make the call - I wish to talk to Captain Onishima. Koji, you go back   
downstairs and mix yourself a martini or something. You need to relax."   
Her brother glowered, but did as she asked. One of the guards took out   
a key and unlocked something on the back of the door. The bars shot up. Gum   
tried to make a dash for it, but the guards caught her arms and dragged her   
back.   
They led her out into the corridor, keeping her arms twisted up behind   
her back. Camilla followed, her footsteps quiet. Gum tried to ignore the numb   
aching that was seeping through her muscles. She couldn't see Amy anywhere.   
That brat probably ran off as soon as she could, she thought.   
They reached the lift. Gum tried to break free, but it was impossible.   
One of them wrenched her wrist, and she yelped before she could stop herself.   
The lift dropped. They seemed to stay in it for ages. Finally it jerked to   
a halt, and she was dragged out.   
The basement was concrete-walled, and the air was cold and damp.   
There were several doors along the wall, all bolted shut. Gum shivered as she   
took in the scene. Despite herself, she was scared.   
She heard a creak as one of the doors was unbolted, and then suddenly   
the pressure on her arms vanished as she was shoved inside. Stumbling   
forward, she didn't even get time to look round before the door slammed   
behind her, and the dim light was cut off.   
She stood in the darkness, feeling herself shiver, and cursing her bad   
luck at getting into this situation. Dropping down on the floor, which was cold   
and stony, she wondered what to do next.   
Suddenly she heard a faint hissing sound. Her first thought was a snake,   
and she gulped.   
The air was becoming oversweet, clouding her head, dragging her   
eyelids shut. She yawned, and dimly realised she must be being gassed.   
Staggering to her feet, she tried to reach the door, but she was too tired.   
Coughing, she fell back onto her knees. Her eyes closed again, and she   
couldn't open them this time.   
  
Amy reached the garage and banged on the door, her hand shaking as she did   
so. This was not going to be pretty.   
It was Beat who answered, and Amy's heart sank as he said, "Hey,   
where's Gum?"   
"She got caught," Amy said.   
There was a pause. At last Beat said, "No way."   
"I'm sorry."   
"Come in." The words were abrupt, said without thinking. Amy did as   
he said, wishing she could turn tail and run back out again.   
"What happened?" Tab said, coming towards her. "Where's Gum?"   
"They got her." Beat sounded grimly furious. "What happened, Amy?"   
Slowly she stumbled out her story. Her voice sounded stupidly loud in   
the silence, and she felt out of place, unwanted, incongruous.   
At last Beat said, "Didn't you try and help her?"   
"How could I? I'm no Superman."   
"Well, you could have tried! You just let them take her down there and   
you could've followed, you could've done something, you didn't need to just   
let them lock her up!"   
"Hey, cool it," Tab said. "What else could she do?"   
"Oh, that's right, stick up for her," Beat said, his hands curling into fists.   
He glared at Amy. "Gum's right, you are useless!"   
Amy gasped, his words slamming into her like bullets. She felt tears   
come to her eyes, but quickly held them back and watched as Beat turned and   
marched out of the garage, slamming the door behind him.   
"He's just upset because Gum's his girl," Mew said, coming up behind   
her. "Don't worry. When he's cooled down he'll understand."   
Amy shrugged. That was true. But she was pretty sure he wouldn't   
have shouted at any of the others that way. Not with those words.   
"I'm going out," she said. "Here, Tab, have your skates back."   
"Amy, don't be -"   
"I'm fine, okay? I just want a walk."   
She went outside before he could answer.   
The evening had turned into night now, and the sky was a deep pool of   
darkness. Amy didn't like Shibuya-cho at night. It was too lonely. It should   
be perpetual daylight there, she decided. A place for people to be happy in.   
Now? Well, she wasn't happy, and she bet Beat wasn't either.   
She carried on walking, and let her feet carry her to Benten-cho.   
She avoided the walkway district where she'd once lived, and headed   
downtown. There the streets were warm. Heat from a thousand restaurants   
and bars spilled out over her, and music echoed in her ears.   
As she walked, her gloom turned to anger.   
I can't help it if she got caught. Why do they always pick on me? It's   
not my fault I was born weak and stupid. Why can't they just leave me alone?   
She knew she wasn't thinking straight, but she didn't care, taking pleasure in   
being furious. I can never fit in anywhere. I didn't fit in at school and I don't   
fit in here either. She kicked a squashed drinks can and grinned as it shattered   
a pot plant on someone's front step.   
She leant on a low wall and sighed, watching the lanterns hanging above   
her bob in the night breeze. Far, far away, on the horizon, was the dark,   
dominating shape of the Rokkaku building.   
What had happened to Gum? Had they handed her over to the police?   
Locked her up themselves? Done to her what they did to Piranha?   
For the first time she could understand Beat's anger.   
And what were they going to do to the city?   
Suddenly a hand clamped down on her shoulder. She leapt up, the harsh   
grip sending a message of raw fear down her spine.   
"Going somewhere, miss?"   
The voice was sickeningly familiar.   
Amy clenched her fists, summoned up all her strength, and spat out,   
"Leave me alone. Now."   
"I don't think so. You're coming back with me and you are not going to   
run away again, I'll make sure of that."   
"No!" She didn't even think. Just knew that was the only option.   
Her aunt's other hand grabbed her wrist and twisted it up behind her   
back. "Come on."   
"Let go of me!" Amy heard her voice echo around the small, hot   
buildings. "Let go!" She wrenched her arm free, but it was instantly grabbed   
again. The woman slapped her face, knocking her to her knees.   
"You can't drag me home," Amy shouted as loud as she could. "What   
are you going to do, hypnotise me? I'm not coming back, and I mean it!"   
Her aunt pushed her back against the wall of a house and shook her.   
"Listen here, you. You're coming back with me right now...you're an   
untrustworthy, lying, cheating little cow...but you're still under my charge and   
I've got a duty to uphold."   
"What, smashing my skull?" Amy struggled to break away, but her   
aunt's grip was too strong.   
"I've seen you...creeping round the Rokkaku building with those   
thugs..."   
"They are not thugs! You're the thug!"   
"I saw you, you and that blonde slut going in there tonight...I saw you   
earlier, with the lout and the cripple. I'll tell the police if you don't come   
quietly."   
"Then I'll tell them what you've done to me." Amy could feel the hate   
wriggling in her stomach like a centipede. She didn't know why she'd not   
wanted to report her aunt once. Now she just wanted to attack any way she   
could.   
"I'm sure other people have seen rudies round the Rokkaku building,"   
her aunt said calmly. "I myself saw that cripple going in at the front this   
evening, just before you. Whereas there's nothing to see at our house." She   
shoved her niece backwards against the wall. Amy choked as the breath was   
knocked out of her. She struggled desperately to break free, kicking, pushing,   
screaming for help.   
But the street was staying empty. Amy looked round desperately - and   
then she was slammed against the wall - her head rang - and dizzily, she   
stumbled into unconsciousness.


	9. A Really Great Valentines Day

Chapter 08 - A Really Great Valentine's Day   
(You know the disclaimer by now. I don't own JSR, okay? Thanks are due to Disk The GG for his help in this chapter (you'll see why when you read it, Disk). Oh, and please r+r!)   
  
Valentine's Day dawned in a damp, hazy sunrise.   
Beat woke up. For a moment he lay there, luxuriating in sleepiness -   
then he remembered what had happened the night before.   
Gum had been caught. He sat up, and caught sight of the calendar, still   
lying on the floor. It was Valentine's Day, and his girlfriend had been captured   
by a conglomerate known to have ties to a gang of ruthless Asian killers.   
He'd even remembered the damn day this year. He'd got her a card and   
a locket. He'd been all prepared to be sappy and slushy, like girls were   
supposed to like. And now - and now he didn't even know whether she was   
still alive.   
Maybe it's all a mistake, part of his brain said hopefully. You know,   
she didn't get caught after all. Or she did and she escaped. She's not here, but   
maybe she's okay. She's got to be okay.   
He got to his feet. All the other GGs were still asleep, but neither   
Garam nor Amy were there. Beat remembered how he'd yelled at Amy, and   
sighed. He hadn't meant it. He just thought she could have done something.   
Should have done something.   
But evidently she'd taken it to heart, and decided to sleep alone tonight.   
And Garam would be hurting worst of all. Him and Piranha had been   
together for ages. Last Valentine's Day, they'd each sent each other large   
cards, and kept kissing and cuddling whenever they had a chance between   
fighting Assassins. Gum had kept rolling her eyes and then looking at Beat in a   
deeply hurt/utterly furious way.   
I wish she'd do that this year, Beat thought. I wish she was here now,   
and I'd forgotten again, and she was rolling her eyes and acting like she wanted   
to kill me.   
If only I hadn't sent her out last night.   
Suddenly there was a knock on the door, and a letter was shoved under   
it. Beat picked it up. It was addressed to him.   
The envelope was strong, good quality, but there was no stamp or   
postmark. The address was typed.   
Puzzled, he opened it.   
Typed on a piece of A4 paper was the following:   
  
The female gang member captured at the Rokkaku building is safe at the   
moment. Do not attempt to rescue her or this situation may change. If you   
want to see her again - and I imagine you do - you and your gang must come   
to the Rokkaku building at ten p.m. on 15th February. Stay away from the   
building until that time. You saw what happened to the other girl. Don't let it   
happen to this one too.   
  
Garam lurked in Shibuya-cho and wondered if leaping under a bus would stop   
the pain.   
He wasn't thinking of killing himself in a depressed way, like he had   
been earlier. Amy was right. If Piranha was up there somewhere, looking   
down on them while playing a harp or whatever, then she wouldn't want him to   
kill himself because of her. He knew he wouldn't want it to happen if the   
positions were reversed.   
This was different. It just hurt - physically hurt - not to have her with   
him. He couldn't believe she was dead. He kept thinking he could still feel   
her, out there, somewhere...   
But that was crazy. She was dead, and there was nothing he could do.   
  
"Look at this," Beat said to Tab.   
Tab took the letter his friend handed to him, and read it through.   
"So, they really have got her," he said. "You think we should go when   
they say?"   
"I don't see what else we can do." Beat sounded despairing. "They'll   
kill her if it suits them, won't they? We gotta go."   
"But why do they want us all there? If Koji's gonna unleash something   
big and horrible on the world, he doesn't want a bunch of rudies hanging   
around ready to mess it up for him."   
"Maybe he wants us there so he knows where we all are," Beat said   
dully. "Or maybe because we were there when his dad did his party piece. I   
don't care, okay? I'm not gonna risk Gum getting hurt - or - or anything.   
We've got to go."   
"What do we do if he plans to have the assassins rub us all out   
afterwards?" Tab said.   
"I don't know!" Beat shouted it. "I don't know what to do, okay? I just   
got to make sure she's safe..."   
"Hey, I'm worried about her too." Tab sighed. He'd been trying not to   
think about what could be happening to Gum right now. Really trying not to.   
"But we can ask the others when everyone's awake." He glanced round the   
garage. "Where's Amy?"   
"Not here. I guess she's mad about what I said. She ain't been in all   
night."   
So where'd she sleep? Tab wondered. Not back at Auntie's house,   
surely. Did she just spend the night out in Tokyo-to?   
That surprised him. Surely she'd have crept back in later, even if she   
didn't want to face the others.   
Some Valentine's Day. He'd been kinda nervous about the occasion -   
you never knew what girls expected of you. But he'd figured she'd at least   
show up.   
Unless she realised she'd made a terrible mistake and was deliberately   
avoiding him.   
Tab considered the thought a few moments, then decided he really   
didn't want to think about it any more.   
  
Amy yawned and opened her eyes, then slammed them shut again as the light   
collided with the agony in her head.   
"Ow," she muttered, feeling the pain throbbing in her eyeballs.   
She lay there for a few seconds until the aching died down, then slowly   
sat up, keeping her eyes shut. She could feel a lump swelling on the back of   
her head, and when she touched it tears sprang behind her eyelids.   
Dimly, she began to remember what had happened. She and Gum had   
gone to spy - Gum had been caught - she'd gone to tell the other GGs - Beat   
had freaked out at her - she'd stormed off - into Benten-cho - and then met up   
with her aunt.   
Uh-oh.   
Amy felt her heart pound faster, and despite herself she began to   
tremble.   
She opened her eyes.   
She was sitting in a room she recognised as the cellar in her aunt's   
home. A small window at the top of one wall let in the pale sunlight, which   
fell in a square onto her head and shoulders.   
She was alone.   
Sighing with relief, Amy got rather unsteadily to her feet, climbed up   
the steps and tried the door. As she'd expected, it was locked.   
Did any of the other GGs know where she was? Heck, did they care?   
Beat's words stung her like a whip as she remembered them. You are useless.   
Maybe they were just congratulating themselves on having got rid of her at   
last...   
No, Amy told herself. You think like that and you'll never get out of   
here. You mustn't be scared. She wants you to be, but you mustn't be. Just be   
calm.   
Easier said than done.   
She looked at her watch. Nine a.m. She knew from past experience her   
aunt never got up till eleven at the earliest. That gave her two hours.   
She walked over to the window. It was too high for her to reach. But if   
she could get up to it, and if she could open it or break it somehow, she could   
get out - it was just above the pavement.   
Amy sat down again and considered the problem. But her head still   
ached, and gradually she found her thoughts returning to the scenes last night.   
Not Beat shouting at her - that was painful - but to her aunt catching her.   
What had she said...something about seeing her and Gum go into the Rokkaku   
building. And seeing her, Garam and Breaker there earlier.   
Well, I sure didn't see you, Amy thought. Where were you? She   
pictured the scene. The building stood towering over the city, with a few other   
office blocks and skyscrapers next to it. Her aunt could have stood round the   
corner of one of those...or lurked in the next street...but why just lurk? Why   
not come and attack like she'd done last night?   
She was scared of the rudies, maybe. Not only did they have a violent   
reputation, they would be witnesses.   
But there was something else...something nagging her memory,   
something that wasn't right.   
She tried to run through the conversation, closing her eyes as her head   
throbbed again.   
She'd threatened to tell on her aunt, and her aunt had said there'd be no   
witnesses - and that she'd tell about Amy breaking into the Rokkaku building -   
and that there were many more witnesses for that crime - that she'd seen her   
and Garam and Breaker - and her and Gum - and then something else about   
Breaker...   
Amy sighed. No, she couldn't remember. It hung tantalisingly out of   
reach in her mind.   
There was a footstep upstairs.   
Amy's heart seemed to leap, terrified, up into her throat. Surely her aunt   
hadn't broken the habit of a lifetime in order to come and lay into her   
disobedient niece...   
Put like that it sounded horribly plausible.   
Amy forced herself to carry on breathing normally. Think, she told   
herself. Think! How to get to the window?   
She walked over to it, jumped - her fingers tapped the glass, but the   
movement started her head spinning again and she had to sit down. Through   
the ringing in her ears, she heard footsteps above her. Someone was walking   
down the stairs.   
  
Beat finished reading out the letter he'd received, and then looked round the   
garage. "Well? Any thoughts?"   
"Sounds like they're setting something up and don't want us around,"   
Cube said. "Like a huge turntable of evil."   
"And it's also Koji's way of making sure he can set everything off on   
the right date," Mew said. "If we turned up earlier we might be able to stop   
him."   
"But I don't understand why he wants us there," Slate said. "If I were   
him I'd want to keep us in the dark as long as possible."   
"Basically it comes down to this," Beat said, trying to act like he was   
totally in control and not worried at all. "Do we go on the right date, like   
we've been told, or do we try and rescue her, or do some more spying, today?"   
"If we go tomorrow we might all get picked off as we knock on the   
door," Combo said. "He'll be expectin' us."   
"I don't think that'll happen," Tab said. "I mean, all through this thing,   
Koji's been letting us know the Rhinos are ready. The music - it's caused   
trouble, but it's hardly secret. If he wanted, he could've put it in another song,   
one that isn't Rhino-related - but no. And the Assassins. They weren't there   
to kill us. One of 'em could've got me easy, but he just said something about   
how he hadn't been ordered to. They were there to warn us, and Piranha died   
to demonstrate that they're serious."   
"Is there a point to this?" Mew asked.   
"That diary thing we found on Koji's computer. He didn't need to write   
that there. He could've written it in a book or something and kept it hidden in   
his room, but he didn't, he put it someplace one of us would know how to get   
to. Amy said Gum saw something on the roof, something she recognised as   
bad."   
"So?" Beat snapped.   
"Koji wants us to know what's going on," Tab said. "He's trying to   
scare us and warn us that the Rhinos are back. So he won't pick us off as we   
walk up to the building. He'll show us everything."   
"Then he'll pick us off afterwards," Mew said. "I hardly think that's   
good."   
"Why does he want us to know what's going on?" Cube asked. "How'll   
that help him?"   
"I don't know," Tab said. "But he mentioned something in his notes   
about the Rokkaku conglomerate becoming an ultimate symbol for power. He   
wants us to be scared of him. He can't risk letting the general public know..."   
"But no one'll listen to rudies," Beat said. "But I still don't see how that   
helps us now. What are we going to do?"   
"I don't think we should risk disobeying the instructions," Tab said.   
"The Rhinos are good at killing, and Koji's got a lot of security. No, I think   
it's better to go when he said, but make a plan."   
"Like what?"   
"That's the bit we gotta work on."   
"Do you think we ought to tell Camilla about this?" Mew said. "He is   
her brother, after all."   
"How? We can't go to the Rokkaku building, and we don't know how   
to contact her, do we? And if she tells the cops, and Koji can make himself   
look innocent, we'll look like the troublemakers."   
"Well, let's start planning, then," Beat said. "And make it good."   
  
Amy listened, her heart rattling in her chest. Her aunt's footsteps had paused   
above her. Then she heard the front door open.   
Please don't let her remember me, she prayed. Please...   
Voices above her.   
Amy crept up the steps again, and pressed her ear to the keyhole.   
"Can I get you a drink?" her aunt snapped.   
"Please, I don't think there's any need for this hostility."   
The voice was warm and elegant. Camilla Rokkaku.   
Amy blinked and shook her head a little, wincing as her brain jangled in   
her skull. What was Camilla doing here?   
"You don't think so? Well, that is a surprise."   
"Please, Miss Winters, I've come to warn you. Get out of the city."   
"Why?"   
"Something bad is going to happen."   
"A lot of bad things have happened in my life. Why should this one be   
any different?"   
"Look..." Camilla sounded frustrated. "I know my father was as cruel   
to you as he was to me. I know you think our family's nothing to you but I'm   
begging you, just believe me this time. It's serious."   
"Oh, really?" Her aunt's voice rose. "Well, let me tell you something,   
Miss Rokkaku. You think after what my brother-in-law did you can just waltz   
in here, playing the fancy career girl, and act like James Bond? I don't think   
so. Get out of my sight."   
"Please listen!"   
"Just go!" Her aunt shouted it.   
Amy heard footsteps march across to the door. It opened and then   
slammed shut again.   
What was all that about? Goji had been cruel to Camilla and her   
aunt...Her aunt's brother-in-law had done something...Camilla was warning   
her aunt to leave before Koji unleashed...what?   
Amy jumped back as the cellar door swung open. Her aunt stood   
framed in it, still looking furious.   
"So you're awake, are you?" she snapped.   
"Why did Camilla Rokkaku come here?" Amy demanded.   
"That's none of your business."   
"What did Goji Rokkaku do to you?" Amy clenched her fists. "What's   
going on?"   
"Nothing," her aunt said. "Now, would you like to come and have some   
breakfast?"   
"Tell me what's going on."   
"Be quiet!" Her aunt moved to hit her, but Amy dodged and said, "Tell   
me. Just tell me."   
Her aunt glared at her. "Be quiet!"   
"Are you scared to tell?" Amy said, deliberately making her voice sound   
spiteful.   
She cried out as her aunt slapped her, and stumbled back down the steps.   
Through the dizziness, she heard her aunt spit out, "I am not scared of you,   
Amy Winters. My sister stole Goji Rokkaku from me. I thought he loved me   
and I was wrong. He married her."   
"But - but if you're Goji's sister-in law, that means..." Amy tried to   
speak through the pain in her skull.   
"Yes. You're Camilla and Koji's cousin, I am their aunt, and we're both   
disowned from the family."   
Amy's mouth dropped open.   
"Don't stand there gawping like a goldfish," her aunt snapped.   
"I - I don't understand," Amy said.   
"Look, it's perfectly simple, all right? There were three kids. Me, your   
father, and my sister, Mari. Your father went abroad to Grind City and married   
your mother and later had you. Mari and I went to university together where   
we met Goji. We both liked him, but he told me it was me he wanted to go   
with."   
Her aunt spat the words out bitterly.   
"But he always kept putting me off, didn't he? I should have guessed it,   
but I didn't. At last we got to our final term, and I pressured him to tell me our   
future. He confessed he'd been seeing my sister behind my back, and had   
fallen in love with her."   
Her aunt clenched her fists. Suddenly she looked much younger.   
"They were married, and had twins. I went back to Tokyo-to when they   
did. My sister died. Goji felt bad about me, I suppose, for he gave me an   
allowance. That's what we've been living on. Then he died." Her voice went   
strangely choked.   
"And did his children ever help us out? No, they damn well didn't.   
Never mind they're the richest people in the city. We weren't good enough for   
them, were we?"   
"That's silly," Amy said. "Camilla just came and you rejected her. I   
know what she's talking about, and she might be right."   
"Oh, shut up." Her aunt's face twisted into a sneer.   
"Does Camilla know about me?"   
"She knows I'm looking after my niece. She's never met you, though,   
so I should imagine not. Why? Want to get something out of her? You'll have   
a job."   
Angrily her aunt came towards her. "Not that I'd mind you leaving.   
You're so bloody difficult, you know that, how do you think it feels having you   
round the place? You've annoyed me since you got here."   
"Why? What did I ever do?" Amy snapped.   
"You? You're all the problem of a child without any of the redeeming   
features. All the pain and none of the pleasure. My brother and my sister both   
got families, didn't they? But no - I just end up with you." She gave Amy a   
brutal shove on the shoulder. "I never wanted you."   
"Why'd you come and catch me back, then?" Amy was annoyed to feel   
tears beading in her eyes. "You could have left me in Benten-cho."   
"I don't think so. Next thing I know you're running to the cops and   
telling them what a horrible auntie you've got."   
"So you took me back here?" Amy felt frustration rise behind her ribs.   
"Don't be so stupid! I would have been happy if you'd just left me alone. I   
wouldn't have told on you. You know when you knocked me unconscious?"   
She deliberately emphasised the words, and saw her aunt's eyes slide away   
from her. "I could have told then. But I didn't. I liked being a rudie. It was   
cool. People liked me. People actually wanted me around. I haven't had that   
before. Not from you, anyway!"   
"No, you're right, I never wanted you around! But I'm not letting you   
drag me into this vandalism business." Her aunt shoved her again. "Trust you   
to end up with a bad crowd."   
"They're worth a hundred of you." Amy felt as though the words came   
from somewhere deep inside her, dragged up from some dank pool of fury and   
resentment.   
Her aunt must have caught the rage in Amy's voice. Her eyes narrowed,   
and then she pushed Amy for the third time. This push was harder. Amy felt   
herself stumble back. Her heels trod on air. She fell down the stairs. As her   
head spun, she heard her aunt march out, relocking the cellar door behind her,   
and then she closed her eyes and knew nothing more.   
  
Tab skated gloomily round Shibuya-cho, worrying about Gum, worrying about   
Amy, worrying about everything.   
He kept glancing up at the Rokkaku building. Gum was in there. And   
they didn't know what was happening to her. She could be injured. She could   
be dead.   
She'd been part of his life for so long - arguing, snapping, teasing - that   
the thought of her gone forever physically hurt him, as though someone had   
punched him in the stomach.   
And all they could do was wait. They'd agreed that as they didn't know   
what Koji was going to do, all they could do was assume it would be the same   
as last time. Which meant lots of spray paint. They'd considered telling the   
Keisatsu, but they all knew there was no proof, so doing that would probably   
end in a one-way trip to Sing Sing.   
Tab sighed. Dashing down Center Street, feeling his skates gather speed   
as they rushed down the hill, he turned his thoughts to Amy. Where was she?   
He could just about buy her staying out all night, but surely - surely -   
Beat's comment hadn't hurt her so much she'd avoid them all the next day.   
And it's Valentine's Day, his thoughts muttered.   
And if she was avoiding them, how was she doing it? Everyone had   
been out today, and he'd asked them all if they'd seen Amy. And no one had.   
What about her aunt?   
No way, Tab told himself. No way. She'd not have gone back there,   
not in a million years.   
But did she choose to?   
A slow trail of fear slid down his throat. She'd gone out for a walk. She   
might easily have ended up near her house. And then her aunt could have   
come and grabbed her, dragged her inside, hit her again, knocked her out...   
He had to stop skating because the rage and terror was making it too   
hard to breathe.   
Okay, he told himself. Calm. I'll just head over there. See what's   
going on.   
Please let her be all right.   
  
He reached Amy's aunt's house. From outside it looked normal. Amy's   
bedroom window had been covered by a piece of cardboard, but the smashed   
pane in the door had been fixed.   
Well, now what?   
Tab considered. He could knock and ask to see Amy. Then he could at   
least find out if she was there or not. But...   
He was annoyed to realise he was scared.   
Why? What was so frightening about this lady? She was a bitch to   
Amy, but there wasn't much she could do to him.   
And he'd escaped from the last abusive situation he'd been in. He'd   
escaped. He was not some cowering kid any more. He could handle stuff like   
this.   
He rang the doorbell before he could talk himself out of it, then waited.   
After a few minutes he heard grumpy footsteps, and then the door flew   
open and Amy's aunt snapped, "Well, what is it this - oh. Who're you?"   
"I'm a friend of Amy's." Tab wished he looked a bit tougher. "Is she   
in, please?"   
"She's not around at the moment." She didn't offer to take a message or   
anything, just watched him. He noticed she looked tired, and her eyes were   
red.   
"Can I wait for her?"   
"No."   
The door slammed in his face.   
Tab sighed. Okay, onto Plan B. He'd wait until the aunt went out, then   
grind up the telephone wire and into Amy's bedroom, like he'd done before.   
The cardboard didn't look that hard to bust through.   
The only problem was - when would the aunt go out?   
Oh, well...   
He settled down to lurk.   
  
The day passed slowly for everyone.   
Beat tried to go out tagging, but his heart wasn't in it. Whatever he did,   
his mind leapt back onto the topic of Gum and what might be happening to her.   
He didn't know what to do. Just lying around worrying was depressing, but he   
felt too stressed and tired to do anything.   
Garam didn't even try and tag. He went to Piranha's grave. None of the   
others disturbed him.   
Tab waited in the street. It wasn't exactly thrilling, but he was   
determined to find out where Amy was. And if that meant he had to wait all   
night, then so be it.   
It was eight p.m. when his persistence finally paid off.   
He had slipped into a light doze, when suddenly he was shaken back to   
alertness by the slam of the front door. He quickly peered round the corner and   
saw Amy's aunt heading off towards Genkijomae.   
He waited until she'd turned the corner, then crept towards the walkway   
in front of the house. His footsteps echoed around the street as he walked up   
the steps.   
Okay. Here goes.   
He dashed a few feet, then jumped onto the railing of the walkway. As   
he gathered speed, he leapt again, onto the telephone wire. He rushed towards   
the cardboard blocking the window, put out his hands, and hoped.   
THUNK.   
The cardboard flew off the window and it and Tab crashed to the floor.   
He picked himself up, checked there were no broken bones, and then looked   
round the bedroom.   
It was empty.   
Okay, Tab reasoned to himself, either she is here, but someplace else, or   
she ain't here, and I goofed. Okay. Let's go.   
  
Gum blinked, but her vision remained dark. Her eyes felt as though they'd   
been stuck together with sand.   
She peeled them open, and looked around, trying to ignore her stinging   
throat and aching head. But the darkness was thick, and she could make out   
nothing.   
Suddenly there was the sound of a door unlocking, and faint light spilled   
into the room. Gum sat up a little as a torch beam crept over her.   
"So you're awake, are ya?"   
Gum's ribcage seemed to tighten, cutting off her breathing. She   
recognised that voice. It had ordered her death - all their deaths - in Kogane a   
year ago.   
"You..." Her voice was so dry it hurt to talk. "You're one of the   
Assassins..."   
"So sue me." Footsteps crossed the stone floor, and she felt him kneel   
next to her. Metal glinted in the torchlight. He grabbed her wrist. Then a   
sharp pain bit into it.   
Gum yelped, and the Assassin slapped her face. "Quit whining."   
She could feel blood running down her skin. He seemed to be wrapping   
what felt like paper around the cut. "What are you doing?"   
"Just giving your gang a warning. We felt cutting off your finger might   
be a little over the top."   
Gum swallowed back her terror, and said, "What...what do you want   
them to do?"   
"You'll find out. I guess." He got to his feet and walked back to the   
door. "Sweet dreams, blondie."   
The door slammed behind him, and she was alone.   
Or was she?   
Gum heard what sounded like moaning, coming from the far corner.   
"Who - who's there?" she said, hearing her voice quiver.   
No reply.   
Suddenly she heard the hissing of the gas again. Rats, was her last   
conscious thought before the darkness rushed into her brain.   
  
Amy opened her eyes. The sunlight had been replaced by a square of   
streetlight, and the shadows had darkened. She sat up, and memories rushed   
into her skull.   
She was Koji and Camilla's cousin.   
It was so crazy she could hardly believe it, but it seemed like it was true.   
I wonder what time it is, she thought.   
Questions crowded her mind. She lay back and tried to make sense of   
them. Did Camilla and Koji know that she existed? Did her aunt hate her just   
because she was jealous of her siblings' happiness? Were the GGs okay, and   
did they know where she was? What was that thing about Breaker?   
She mulled the last question over. What was the answer?   
Suddenly it hit her, so hard that she cried out. Her aunt had said   
something like, 'that cripple went into the front of Rokkaku building just   
before you and the blonde girl.'   
He'd gone in through the front.   
But why? Breaker shouldn't have been going to spy. He'd known that   
she and Gum would do that. And even if he'd decided that he had to go   
himself, he would have told them, surely.   
And how had he got in through the front? The secret entrance he'd   
shown them was definitely at the back, and the building had been closed since   
five o'clock. Surely he didn't have a key or something.   
Amy groaned. She couldn't make sense of that now. She was starving,   
and she felt extremely dizzy. At least her aunt had gone out now -   
She froze as she heard footsteps on the stairs.   
  
Tab crept down into the darkened lower half of the house. Geez, it was so   
silent. How could Amy have stood being stuck here 24/7?   
And where was she? If she was out, then technically he was breaking   
and entering. Not cool.   
It wasn't just silent here. It was ugly. Not obviously so - but the whole   
house seemed to have a sharp, angry air to it. It rang in his ears like a bad note.   
He knew why it got to him. His own house had once had exactly the   
same sense to it. Sort of like a permanent storm cloud.   
But you're not there now, he told himself. You're here. Quit worrying.   
There's no way you can go back.   
Amy went back, a voice at the back of his brain said.   
Shut up, he answered. Just keep looking.   
There were only a few more steps to go. He carefully picked his way   
down them.   
In the darkness, he missed one, and landed painfully on the hall floor.   
"Oh, man, that hertz!"   
He yelled without thinking, and then froze, listening. If a neighbour had   
heard...   
There was a loud banging from somewhere in the house.   
  
Amy sat up as the familiar yelp echoed through the building. She knew who   
that was.   
"Tab!" she yelled. "Tab, where are you?" She got to her feet, ran up to   
the cellar door and drummed on it desperately with her fists. "I'm in the cellar!   
Help me!"   
She heard footsteps. "Amy? Amy, where are you?"   
"The cellar! The door's under the stairs!"   
She heard the doorhandle rattle, and he said, "Uh...any ideas on the   
whereabouts of the key?"   
"Look by the front door. There's a key rack there."   
She heard the footsteps recede, then return. There was the clinking of   
keys, and Tab said, "I got all of them. Hang on..."   
She heard clicks and rattles as he began trying keys. Praying her aunt   
wouldn't come back, she waited, and at last the door swung open and she   
dashed out into Tab's arms.   
They stood there, in the dark silent house, embracing, and then at last   
Tab said, "Let's get out of here." And they hurried to the front door, and Amy   
dragged it open, and then they dashed out into the Tokyo streets.


	10. When Is A Rhino Not A Rhino?

Chapter 09 – When Is A Rhino Not A Rhino?

It was the morning of 15th February, and the GGs were dozing.

The night before, Amy and Tab had updated each other on everything they'd both found out. They'd decided to say nothing about Breaker, yet, and see if he did anything else suspicious. Tab had been amazed to find out who Amy really was. They'd exchanged Valentine's gifts, and then met up with the other GGs.

Beat had apologised to Amy about what he'd said, and she'd apologised for not being able to save Gum. Then they'd all slept, each person knowing that tomorrow was the day. R-Day, as Tab termed it.

Beat stirred as he heard someone knock on the door. He sat up, and saw another letter being shoved under it. 

"Hey, guys," he called. "It's the Rhino post."

GGs blinked, yawned and complained as Beat picked up the envelope. 

"Come on," he said. "This could be important."

"Get on with it, then," Slate said.

Beat opened the envelope, took out two sheets of paper, and quickly scanned them. Then he froze. His face went dead white.

"What is it?" Tab asked. "What does it say?"

Beat swallowed. "It says, 'It's – it's good to see that…" His voice sounded strained. "To see that you obeyed my – my instructions. As you – as you can see…"

He stopped. "I can't do this."

"What? What's so horrifying?" Cube said.

Beat dropped the papers, then turned and dashed towards the garage door. "I'll be back in a minute…"

The door slammed behind him.

Mew walked over and picked up the letter Beat had been reading from. "It says, 'It's good to see that you obeyed my instructions. As you can see, I am serious about this. The evidence enclosed in this letter is from your friend. Don't forget, I am expecting you at ten p.m. today, 15th February. Notifying the police, failing to arrive, or in any other way disobeying these instructions will lead to the death of the girl."

"What made Beat freak out then? What's the 'evidence enclosed?' " Tab asked.

Mew picked up the other piece of paper, and shuddered. "I think they mean this."

She turned the paper round, and there was a collective gasp.

One piece of paper had been stuck onto another, and the front piece was covered with blood. It had dried to a rusty brown, but you could see where it had flowed, where it had soaked through the paper. 

"That – that's from our friend, is it?" Tab said. "I'll see if Beat's okay."

He got up and headed out of the garage. Beat had just finished being violently sick in an alleyway.

"You okay?" Tab called.

Beat was shivering. "What did they do to her?"

"Probably they just cut her and smeared it around a bit," Tab said, trying to sound positive.

Beat groaned. 

"Look, they don't want her to snuff it before we get there."

"How do you know?" Beat said. "This is the Rhinos we're talking about. They're not exactly famed for being gentle and fair."

"I don't think they've killed her," Tab said, talking to himself as much as his friend.

"Oh, yeah? Why not?"

"If they had there'd have been a lot more blood." 

"Don't say that." 

"Look, we'll go at the right time, and it'll all be fine. You okay to go back inside?"

"Yeah…I guess so. I wouldn't have run out, it was just a shock, that's all."

"Sure it was."

They walked back into the garage.

"Right," Beat said, anger filling his voice, "I want to see who's delivering this stuff."

"A Rhino, surely," Mew said. 

"Oh, yeah? And how do you reckon he'd go about on the streets without causing an outcry? Everyone knows the Rhinos and what they did."

"Well, do you think we're likely to get another letter? Koji's made his point."

"I know he has, but I want to make mine!"

"Hey, cool it," Combo said. "If you want, me and Slate can wait out there and see if anyone comes, and if it's not anyone dangerous we can grab 'em."

"Good." Beat clenched his fists. "I'm sick of this."

Combo and Slate went out to lurk by the garage door, and the rest of the GGs waited. No one really felt like tagging. Everyone was quiet, which in itself was quite unusual.

Amy leant back against the sound system and sighed. Music had been banned because of the mind-control risks. It made the silence heavier, and the atmosphere depressingly solemn.

It was about two o' clock when it happened.

There was the sound of tapping footsteps approaching the garage door. Amy sat up and listened. She saw another envelope slide slowly underneath. 

The garage was silent. 

Suddenly there was a loud crash of a dustbin hitting the pavement. Someone yelled, "Let go of me, you freaks!" Someone else gasped as though they'd been hit. Slate shouted, "Oh, no, you don't!" Another crash. A yelp. Some dashing footsteps, and then the garage door was flung open.

Slate and Combo entered, dragging Breaker.

"Here's your Rhino postman," Slate said, pulling the ex-Jammer forward. 

"Huh?" Garam looked at them. "I don't understand, you said you hated the Rhinos!"

"Look, I can explain," Breaker said. He didn't look very happy. 

"Then do. We'd love to hear it." Beat was glaring at him.

Breaker swallowed. "I didn't know you'd get so freaked out by what was sent. If I'd known you'd be that screwed up by it I wouldn't have done it…"

"Why did you do it?" Tab asked. 

"I did lose this leg cos of the Rhinos, okay? That was true, what I told Garam. I did want revenge. Then – then someone approached me, and told me they were sorry 'bout what happened. They said they'd give me a job."

"Which was what? Being a lousy, sneaky, two-bit traitor?" Garam snapped.

"They said they wanted to increase communication between the rudies and the Rokkaku."

"Oh, please," Mew said. "You knew what was going on, you knew Koji was summoning a demon, and you knew that they'd kidnapped Gum."

"And you must have warned them about us," Amy said. "My aunt saw you go into the building just before Gum and I got there. No wonder there was only one alarm. They were expecting us."

"And no wonder you knew how to locate Koji's files and get in through the back way!" Garam stood up. "They'd told you everything!"

"Hey, cool it." Tab quickly moved between Garam and Breaker. "Who exactly told you to do this? Koji?"

"No, I never met him. It was one of the Assassins, I don't know which. He brought Koji's orders to me and he took my info to Koji."

"Info about what?" demanded Slate.

"About the music. About when you guys were gonna spy. About everything." Breaker's voice broke a little. "Look, I was starving, okay? I was on the streets! He said he'd pay me and I needed the money. I was told to try and pal up with you guys. That's why I spoke to Garam in Kogane-cho."

"But Koji might be going to destroy the world!" Cube said. "You as well as us! Didn't that occur to you?"

"I never got the chance to ask," Breaker said. "What he would do, I mean. At first I thought he was just trying to help the company. When I downloaded that file I was curious…when I read it I got worried. I told Koji I'd quit. I was told if I did the Rhinos would tell you guys what I'd done. Then I'd be screwed."

He sighed. "So, what're you gonna do now? Tagging me ten times'll be a waste of paint. I haven't been a rudie for months. So you may as well tar and feather me or whatever and get it over with."

"You're damn right you aren't a rudie," Beat snapped. "No rudie would do what you did."

Breaker sighed, and gazed down at the floor. "I'm sorry, okay? I didn't know what they sent you in that envelope."

"I'll show you what they sent us." Beat grabbed the previous letter off the floor and showed Breaker the bloodstained paper. "That's Gum's blood. I don't know how they got it. It could be they cut her finger or it could be they cut her throat."

Breaker swallowed as he stared at the stains. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I – I didn't think they'd do stuff like this."

"They're Rhinos!" Beat shouted.

"Well, maybe I didn't want to know what they were doing!" shouted Breaker. "You try and see how bloody ethical you are when you haven't eaten for four days!"

There was an angry silence. At last Cube said, "Well, what are we going to do now?"

"You gonna carry on spying?" Garam asked. "Cos if you are you better not come back here."

"How can I? You got wise to me."

"Then go back to them," Amy said. "Be a double agent. It might help us. It could be like repayment for spying on us. Spy on them."

Breaker shrugged. "They don't tell me much. But I'll try."

Slate and Combo let go of him, and he walked towards the door. "I gotta tell them delivery was successful." He opened it, and stood silhouetted in the sunlight. "See y'around."

There was a shot.

Breaker dropped to the ground.

Amy rushed over to the doorway and looked out. She could just see a winged figure skimming away through the skyscrapers. 

"Assassin #2," Tab said. "Looks like they were tracking their spy."

Breaker was lying there, blood pooling through his shirt. The other GGs were clustered round him. Slate was checking for a pulse. Then he stood up.

"He's dead," he said.

"Shit." Garam looked shell-shocked. "Can't we call an ambulance or nothing?"

"We can try," Slate said. "But I don't think they'll be able to save him."

He was right. They couldn't.

The GGs trailed back to the garage. It was now three-thirty. 

"What was in the letter?" Cube said as they walked inside.

"What letter?" Mew said.

"The one Breaker was delivering."

Beat picked it off the floor where it had lain since they'd left for the hospital. His hand was shaking slightly.

"It just feels like a normal letter," he said. "I mean, there doesn't seem to be anything else in there…"

Like a finger, Amy thought.

"I'll open it if you want," Mew said.

"No." Beat slit the envelope. "I'm not scared of them."

He took out the paper, and began to read.

"These are your final instructions. Tonight, at ten p.m., I wish to see all nine of you at the Rokkaku building. Come to the front door and say that you have come to see Koji Rokkaku. Once inside follow all instructions given to you. You will meet with your missing gang member. Do not notify the police and do not disobey these instructions or else she will die."

He crumpled the paper. "Well, that's clear enough. So everyone's agreed – we go, like it says?"

"Yeah. Don't see there's much else we can do," Tab said.

"Well, we're taking paint. We've all got skates – oh. Amy, maybe you better not come."

"But it says all nine of us," Amy said, trying to fight down the hurt she was feeling. "I've got to go."

"Here," Tab said. "You can borrow mine, and go practise on 'em for now. I'll come with you." 

He shepherded her out of the door. 

  
After three hours of skating, Amy had finally mastered grinding. Sort of. 

"But it's one thing grinding along a railing a foot from the ground," she said as they walked back into the garage. "It'll be another doing it on top of the Rokkaku building." She licked a finger and rubbed at the grazes speckling her knees and shins. "And I don't even have skates."

"That's where you're wrong!" Tab grinned. 

"Huh?"

He dragged a box out from behind the sound system. "I thought you could use these."

Amy opened it, her hands trembling. Inside were a pair of skates, painted in swirling shades of blue, like the tag she'd done for the GGs ages ago. 

"Oh, wow…" Her mouth fell open. "You – you got them for me?"

"Well, who else would I get 'em for?"

"But – but you already gave me a Valentine's Day gift."

"This isn't a Valentine's Day gift, though, is it? This is a survival gift. I just thought you'd like them."

Amy jumped to her feet and hugged him. "Thank you…thank you so much…"

"Ah, come off it." Tab straightened his hat. "It was nothing. All in a day's work."

Amy kicked off her shoes and tried the skates on. "And they fit…how did you…"

"Detective work, honey." Tab bowed. "Well? Am I marvellous?"

Amy felt tears sting her eyes as she stood up again, now as tall as Tab on her skates. "You're the best…"

Tab kissed her. "I know."

Gum was dragged out of a deep, dark well of sleep by rough hands shaking her awake.

"Come on, rudie, some of us have lives to get back to."

She shook her head, trying to throw off the drowsiness that clung to her brain, but it was no good. She swallowed down a yawn and opened her eyes.

Still darkness. And now she was cold as well. 

Suddenly she felt something being forced down over her head, some sort of mask. She struggled and a fist hit her in the stomach. Before she could recover, she had lost her vision completely. 

And her hearing. She could dimly hear the voices of the people who'd woken her, but only faintly, like she was underwater. 

"Get this thing off me!" she snapped, but she had a horrible feeling they could no more hear her than she could hear them.

The mask went over her face and covered the back of her head. It seemed to be made of some sort of plastic. It smelt of glue and tools, a scent which caught in her throat and tongue. 

Someone pushed her up and forward, the soles of her shoes catching on the stony floor. She was no longer wearing her skates, instead it felt like some sort of platform shoes. There were hands on her arms, keeping her moving. 

Her bare arms.

For one horrible moment she thought she must be naked. Then, slowly, she realised she appeared to be wearing some sort of bikini. 

"What the hell is going on?" she muttered. Someone was shoving her along, making her move quickly. 

"Tell me I'm not going to become Koji's sex slave," she muttered to herself. She knew none of them could hear her, but it made her feel better to hear herself speak. She was still alive.

They made her stop walking. They stood there for a second, then she felt her stomach drop as they began to rise. They were going up in a lift.

"I'm not scared," she said. "I'm not scared. Nothing's gonna happen. I'm not scared. Oh, who am I kidding?"

The lift stopped at last, and she was pushed out of it. There was a mutter of voices. Gum strained to listen but she couldn't pick out any words. 

She focused on it desperately, because she could feel the terror at losing her other senses rising up her mind. Get me out, she begged silently, not speaking now because she knew her voice would tremble. Get me out…

Now she was going up steps. She stumbled on her platforms, stubbed her toe on a step, and yelped, but the hands on her arms forced her on. She counted the steps – there were six – and then suddenly she felt icy cold air on her skin. 

The ground under her feet changed. Her shoes kept tripping over what felt like deep grooves.

Grooves.

I'm on the roof, Gum realised. I'm on the Rokkaku building roof, I'm blind, deaf and dumb, and I'm wearing a bikini. Shit.

And they've set up the same old turntable of evil and they're going to unleash a demon or something. 

Why am I up here?

Well, either they're going to throw me off – 

Gum shuddered. She realised she was putting one foot in front of the other with no guarantee that there'd be any floor to land on. She tried to stop walking, but someone shoved her and she stumbled a few steps. 

Okay, either they're going to throw me off, or…

She tried to think, to remember how the roof had looked when they'd been up there the year before. Goji in the middle in a glass DJ's booth…the huge record spinning under their feet…the two girls in rhino masks trapped inside glass cases…

Oh. 

Gum felt something hard crash into her shins. Someone was shoving her upwards, their hands under her arms. She fell onto her knees, but the floor felt different now – not like the grooved surface of a record any more. She reached out, trying to get some clue as to what was going on, and touched glass walls. 

There was the sound of a door behind her slamming shut. 

I've become a Rhino girl, she realised.

"Earplugs," Tab said. 

"Huh?"

"They might have mind control music. So I got us earplugs."

It was nine-thirty. The GGs were preparing to go to the Rokkaku rendezvous.

"What, you went out and bought nine pairs of earplugs?" Beat said. "Didn't you get some strange looks?"

"So they thought I had some sort of earplug fetish. It'll be worth our while." 

Amy looked out at the dark street that passed in front of the garage. She was wearing her skates, she was equipped with as much paint as she could carry, and she was with friends.

So why did she feel so terrified?

The other GGs didn't look too happy either, though. Beat kept glancing out at the darkness and sighing, Garam was lurking in the corner with heartbreak in his eyes, Cube was pacing the floor, Combo was listening very hard to his ghetto-blaster, Slate was playing pinball and not complaining when he lost, Yo-Yo was talking maniacally to Mew, and Mew was automatically flirting back at him.

"Don't worry." Tab walked over to stand next to her. 

"Don't worry? Tab, he's gonna unleash a demon – or something – and we're going to be a hundred feet up watching him do it. Add to that the fact that he's already had one of us murdered and that he's secretly my cousin, and I think you'll agree I can be worried."

Tab grinned, but she could see he wasn't totally calm either. "No, I mean it. Don't worry. I'll take care of you."

It melted the chill in Amy's heart, and she clutched his hand. 

"Come on, guys," Beat called from behind them. "Let's go. Everyone got their earplugs in?"

The GGs nodded.

"It doesn't work, though," Mew said. "It just fades the sound out a bit, it doesn't block it."

"Well, every little helps. Let's get moving."

The GGs trailed out of the garage into the darkness.

Gum had almost dozed off, when suddenly she heard music echoing in her ears. 

Grace And Glory. She clapped her hands over the sides of her mask, but the music was coming from speakers inside it. Cursing, she wished she'd been able to pull off the mask. She'd tried, earlier, but it fitted her too snugly.

As the music droned through her brain, she felt herself rise to her feet. Her heart pounded as she realised she hadn't chosen to. The music was controlling her.

And she could still notice it. Odd, that.

The air rushed over her arms as they moved. She tried to stop them, but they kept on going as though they weren't part of her body at all.

She was dancing for the Rhinos now.

Stop it! she thought angrily. Stop making me do stuff I don't want to do! Stop it! 

_Flip the rap, split the track…_

Stop! 

_Flip the rap, split the track…_

Get me out of here!

_Flip the rap, split the track…_(Are you okay?)

Huh? Gum felt her mouth drop open. Was she going nuts, or had the music just spoken to her?

(Gum, is that you?)

What's going on? she thought. Who's talking to me?

(Gum, it's me.)

Who's me?

(It's Piranha.)

The GGs clustered outside the Rokkaku building. They were all silent now. The building was dark, but on top of the roof there was a blaze of light.

"Doesn't look good," Tab muttered.

Beat looked at his watch. It was 9:55.

He knocked on the door of the building.

The intercom crackled, and a female voice said, "Please state your business with the Rokkaku Corporation."

"Uh – we're here to see Koji Rokkaku."

"Oh." The voice sounded cool. "Are you the bunch of kids he mentioned?"

"Probably."

"All right." The door buzzed. "Please come in."

Beat pushed the door open, and they trooped into the lobby. It was empty except for the secretary, who was looking rather nervously at them. 

"Just a minute." She picked up her phone, pressed a button on the keypad, and said, "Mr Rokkaku, the people you told me about are here. May I leave now?"

She put down the receiver and quickly got to her feet. "Please wait here. Someone will be down to see you directly." 

She put on her coat, and hurried out of the building.

The strip lighting above them flickered. The shadows cast by desks and chairs seemed deeper. 

I don't want to be here, Amy thought. I really don't. 

But she wasn't going to run out. No way.

"So we wait, then?" Mew said.

"Doesn't seem as though there's much else we can do." Beat sighed.

A clock ticked somewhere in the room, echoing Amy's heartbeats. The place smelt of carpets, printer's ink, cigarette smoke. Normal office stuff. But the air in the building seemed tense, like it was waiting for something. It was stifling conversation and magnifying the sounds around them.

Like footsteps.

Amy looked up as a posse of men in black suits entered the room. She heard Mew whimper, and next to her, Tab gulped.

"Nice to see you again, rudies," said one of them. "Now if you'd like to follow us…"

Something in his tone implied that liking didn't come into it much. They would follow, or else.

The men led the way to the lift in the corner. It was a large one, big enough to accommodate both GGs and Rhinos.

"Your little blonde friend's fine," said one of the Rhinos as the lift began to rise. "Not everyone is who goes snooping around, though, you know."

"What, like you did in Tokyo-to?" Mew snapped.

The Rhino moved fast. Suddenly Mew had a knife pressed against her throat.

"Don't make me," he said. "Cos if you do, Koji'll be mad. He wants you all to be there for his little show."

He let go of Mew. Amy could feel herself trembling.

At last the lift stopped. Amy slid a little on her skates, and hoped she'd be able to keep upright. The doors opened, and the Rhinos escorted them out onto the floor that Amy remembered contained the Rokkaku twins's bedrooms.They were led round the corner to a flight of steps. One of the Rhinos unlocked the trapdoor at the top and motioned for them to walk up and out. 

Grace And Glory filtered through, muffled by the earplugs, but still loud enough to be familiar. Amy fought down the urge to rip off the plugs and just listen. The music was so – so something… 

Beat took a deep breath and began to climb. The others followed him. Amy was last. She wriggled out onto the roof, feeling the wind whip at her hair and face, and looked around. Behind her the trapdoor slammed shut.

She was standing on a large, grooved surface which looked exactly like a gigantic record. Through the middle of it rose a glass case. Two other cases, attached to the central one by metal arms, spun slowly around, each one containing a girl in a red bikini and a rhino mask, dancing to the music. The entire scene was lit by a strange greenish light that warped colours and cast deep shadows over everything. 

Amy tried to focus on the person in the central booth, but something was wrong. Her eyes didn't seem to be picking up enough messages. Every time she tried to look an argument broke out in her brain about what she was seeing. 

Blinking, she stumbled a little as the record beneath her feet began to turn. Tokyo-to glittered below her. Suddenly she realised how high up they were, and shuddered.

"Glad you could make it." 

The voice sounded like Koji's…sort of. Her brain was arguing about that just like it was arguing about who was in the control box. It was beginning to give her a headache. The other GGs looked disorientated as well.

"I'm sure you recognise this scenario. My late father was very specific about what it should look like."

"Where's my girlfriend?" Beat shouted.

"The young lady caught here two days ago will be restored to you eventually, don't worry."

What was wrong with her? Amy closed her eyes for a second, trying to ease the throbbing headache developing in her skull. Why couldn't she see or hear him properly?

It sounded like there were two voices…speaking together…and it looked like one image was being laid over another.

"But that wasn't my primary purpose for calling you here tonight. Take a good, long look at the city, GGs. I'm going to show it what the name of Rokkaku really means!"

"The Devil's Contract was a hoax!" Tab shouted. "You're crazy!"

The record spun faster and faster. Amy tried not to look at the far away ground.

"No, my father was crazy." That voice was made up of two familiar ones…but she couldn't pick them out. "I am quite, quite sane. I'm not relying on devils and superstition to take my revenge. I'm relying on technology."

"Like what?" Garam folded his arms and sneered. "Daleks?"

"Not quite. The free videos and computers the company gave out…they all had a little surprise packed into them."

Amy remembered the plans they'd heard the two workers discussing. The wind was buffeting her from side to side as they revolved above the city. "What sort of surprise?" she heard Mew ask.

The twisted voice sounded smug. "Just a little command to explode when they're switched on. The blast covers a fifty-metre radius. I think you'll agree that devastates the city more than any demon ever could."

Amy looked at the flickering figure, unable to take it in. She remembered how many Rokkaku vans they'd seen outside houses. 

The city would be a fireball, with everyone in it trapped inside.

"Don't do it!" Beat's voice echoed around the sky. "You'll be ruined!"

"You think I care? The most important thing is to commemorate my father. Crazy he may have been, but he had a vision that only I can now carry out. I'm now going to pull the lever that will make the bombs ready to detonate. Watch and learn, GGs."

Amy saw a hand that couldn't decide its shape reach towards a lever in the booth.

Piranha? Gum wondered if she was going crazy. How can it be? You're dead. 

She shivered. Tell me you're not a ghost.

(I'm not dead, Gum. I was kidnapped, brought here to the Rokkaku building. I've been here I don't know how long. They kept me drugged.)

I'm going nuts. Gum tried to pinch herself, but her arms were in the middle of a hip-swinging move and paid her no attention. I'm going crazy. The gas is making me hallucinate.

(No, it's not!) Piranha's tones were as clear as the music was. (Look, they confronted me and Garam. Knocked Garam out and grabbed me, ripped my goggles off and torched them for him to find, then knocked me out too. I came to in the Rokkaku basement. They gave me some food and told me I was here for good, that you guys thought I was dead.)

Damn right we did, Gum thought. We gave you a tombstone. Hang on – we found a body. It was wearing your watch. What's that all about?

(They took my watch away from me soon after I got here. I guess they must have put it on some other poor sap so that you'd really think I'd snuffed it. Anyway, they woke me up so I could eat but kept me drugged most of the time. Then I woke up and I was…wherever we are now, with a mask on. The music starts, I have to dance, and then suddenly I hear you shouting.)

How can we be talking like this, though? Gum wished she could tear off that damn mask. She wanted to see. 

(You've got the music pumping through your ears, right?)

Right.

(I think it's somehow carrying our thought waves. It must be coming from the same source. You guys thought I was dead?)

We had a funeral. Garam's been really cut up about it. Well, we all have. 

(Oh, man…) Piranha was silent for a moment, then she thought/said, (What's going on now? Do you know?)

We're the Rhino girls. Koji's doing something that I'll bet bears more than a passing resemblance to his father's little act last year.

(Uh-oh…Is there any way to get these masks off?)

Nope. We're stuck.

(Arrrgh!) Piranha's yell reverberated through Gum's head. (I don't believe this! Do the others know? Are they here?)

They know. I don't know if they're here.

(And all we can do is sit back while Koji destroys the world.)

"Stop!" Amy screamed. "Don't do it!"

"Why not?" The voice grated on her ears.

"You don't need to! You're rich, successful, good-looking – you don't need to throw it all away! They'll catch you. Even if you kill everyone in Tokyo-to, there are others. Someone will catch you." Whoever you are, she added silently. Was this blurring Koji's way of disguising himself?

She saw the GGs spreading out around the record, each person holding a paint can. Tab stayed with her, and whispered, "Keep him talking."

"Admit it." Amy's heart was pounding, but suddenly she was desperate to provoke a reaction. "This is suicide."

"You don't understand." The voice sounded bitter. "I have to do this. I've thought very hard about it. I'm not playing second fiddle any more."

"No one has to do something like this." Amy could see the GGs moving, leaping onto different parts of the roof, tagging, grinding, jumping. She wondered if they had a plan or if this was a last-ditch attempt to do something, anything.

"You don't know my motives." There was anger there now. Well, Amy didn't care about that. Anger was an old friend of hers.

"No motive is good enough to destroy people," she snapped. "What is your motive, anyway? Your father never give you enough attention so you're trying to upstage him?"

There was a short silence. Then the voice said, "I am doing this for him. I must do it."

"Why?" All Amy could think about was finding out the answer to that. She could no longer see Tokyo-to below her. That pause before the last answer. She'd struck a nerve. 

"Surely he doesn't want to see someone succeeding where he failed?" she said. "Especially someone he never had faith in."

Silence.

"Is that it? Is it just plain old family jealousy?"

The figure turned a switch and suddenly Grace And Glory became much louder, booming out from the speakers around the roof into Amy's skull. She winced as Koji's image began to become clearer, and his voice became more whole. Her brain was putting up a fight, trying to blur the image again, but was slowly being crushed.

And then she got it.

"Tab!" she cried out. "The music's making us see things that aren't there – that's why he looks so warped, because we can't hear it properly so it isn't working as it should! We've got to try and turn it off!"

"How?" Tab clung onto his hat with one hand. 

"The speakers. Try and put the speakers out of action."

"What about Dr Evil in there?" Tab indicated Koji. 

"I'll deal with him." Amy shook her paint can. "Let's go."

She skated towards the booth, and began tagging it. 

She saw Koji, his eyes wide with frustration, his image blurring round the edges like it had been edited badly – and then he was cut off, hidden from her by a swathe of paint.

_Flip the rap, split the track, flip the rap, split the track…_

Shut up, Amy told the music as she worked. I'm not interested in you.

Yes, you are, a voice whispered. Whether it was the music or her mind she didn't know.

If only she could hear it properly. It was so frustrating hearing it on the edge of her senses and not being able to enjoy it totally…

She put a hand up to her ear, to pull out the earplug.

No! What the hell are you doing? her brain yelled. Quickly she dragged her hand back down again and carried on painting. Koji was becoming hidden from view by the tags she was doing. 

But she could feel the desire for the music sucking in her ribcage…she bit down on her lip to try and ignore it, but it was getting harder.

Hurry, get rid of it, she thought. Hurry.

No, don't…leave it…let it play…

Will you stop trying to think without me! Amy yelled at her brain. 

Her hand stopped as she tried to tag. 

She dropped the can. 

She reached up to take out the earplugs.

"Amy, come on! What are you waiting for?"

She looked up. Tab was standing there, clutching his own paint.

"I've got Combo on it," he said. "He'll put the music off. Now ignore it, okay?"

Amy pushed away the begging voices inside her skull and picked up her paint again. She carried on tagging. She could still feel the yearning in her ears but Tab made it easier to ignore. He kept talking, and she focused on his words and his voice.

"The others're trying to distract his attention…Combo's going after the speakers, like I said…at least there's no demon, huh?"

"I suppose that's a blessing." They'd nearly covered the booth with tags now. Koji wouldn't be able to see them. But of course they couldn't see him,. and she didn't like that. She didn't trust him. What if he set off the bombs now?

"Isn't there anything else we can do?" she asked Tab.

"I'll see if anyone's got a phone on them." He turned and skated off again.

Amy tagged the last tag and breathed a sigh of relief. But the music was still playing. 

Oh, come on, the voice in her mind murmured. What'll happen if you do listen? I don't think Koji's expecting anything to happen, or he'd be puzzled that it wasn't working.

Then why is it playing?

Amy followed the thought, holding onto it as her mind battered the storms of music. 

She remembered what she'd shouted to Tab. Koji looked and sounded warped because the music wasn't being totally absorbed. So if they weren't wearing the earplugs, what would they be seeing and hearing?

Koji would seem completely normal. Their vision and hearing would seem unaffected. 

And if there was no music, the same thing would apply. 

But would they be seeing Koji?

It's someone else, Amy realised. Someone's setting Koji up for a fall. 

(We've got to do something!) Piranha's voice rang in Gum's mind. (We can't just sit here!)

Can you stop dancing? 

A pause, then Piranha thought/said, (Not really. But you fought the music when we first had it. Can't you do that again?)

Gum gritted her teeth and tried to stop moving. It didn't work. Her body wasn't listening to her. She couldn't even take one step that the music didn't want her to take. 

How had she fought it before? 

Of course. Beat had been kissing her at the time. Well, that was a fat lot of good now, wasn't it? 

Unless she tried imagining…

Hang on, she told Piranha. I'm just gonna try something.

She closed her eyes, making the darkness thicker, and tried to remember how it felt to have him holding her. 

_Flip the rap, split the track, flip the rap, split the track…_

Shut up, she told it. But her concentration had been broken. Feeling her brow wrinkle, she tried again. 

But it was too hard to keep her thoughts straight in her mind. 

"I love him," she said, hearing her voice echo inside the mask. "I love him. He always tries to make me happy. Even when he forgot Valentine's Day last year he tried to make up for it. He worried about me when the music made me freak. I love him, and he loves me."

That made her feel slightly better. Someone loved her. She carried on speaking, feeling strength forming inside her from her words.

"I can be really snappy to him sometimes, and he just forgives me for it. He doesn't laugh at me if I cry or anything, he just lets me and even when I get mad because I'm crying, he doesn't desert me."

Yes. She could feel it, she could almost regain control, it was there, just blocked by a thin wall of music. 

Even as she carried on speaking, she was thinking. What can I do? I mayn't have much time. The music might drag me back down. 

Well, I could start by getting this mask off. And there's got to be some way to do that or else they'd not be able to get it on me, right? 

So if and when she could move, she'd start grabbing.

Keep on speaking. 

"He never lorded it over me when it was just the three of us. He's never acted like that at all. He's not some stupid laddish prat with an attitude problem."

Yes. She could do it.

"I love him. I love him."

She felt the music's grip shatter like plate-glass, and instantly brought her hands up to her mask. She didn't grab at the back, like she'd tried earlier. She went for the chin, and she felt some sort of catch. Her fingers ached as she tried to open it. She could feel the music rushing back over her body, trying to force it into the set dance. She gritted her teeth and focused on everything she could think of: music, tagging, Tab, Crunchie bars, love, sunlight…

__

Click.

The mask fell off her face, and she could see.

She was standing, as she had thought, in a glass booth which was slowly orbiting a giant record. Dotted around the roof were bright figures she recognised as the other GGs. The sky was black, but light was shimmering around the rooftop from some source she couldn't pinpoint, making the whole scene look like it was on a stage. Piranha was in another booth, her skin warm against the red of her bikini, her head covered by a rhino mask.

Gum kicked at the glass, but it wouldn't break. But at least now the music was no longer there to control her, though she could still hear it ringing in the speakers of her mask. 

But she couldn't hear anything else. The booth was soundproof.

And she'd lost contact with Piranha. Damn. 

Think, Gum told herself. Think! 

She pressed her face to the glass and stared out at the rudies. There were Amy and Tab, tagging the central booth…Combo slapping paint onto the giant Rokkaku speakers dotted around the roof…Mew standing still, talking into her mobile phone…

Where was Beat?

Suddenly she was frightened. What if he'd fallen off the roof or been shot or something? The thought of it made her ache all over. Where was he, damn him?

"Get me out of here!" she shouted, and kicked the glass. The impact sent pain rushing up her foot and she cursed. 

Suddenly she saw a figure rushing up to her on the other side of the glass. Beat.

He followed her booth as it carried on orbiting, but Gum couldn't see how he was going to get her out.

She shuddered. About the only thing worse than not being able to see what was happening was being able to see it and not being able to do anything as Koji destroyed her world.

Amy wished she could consider her theory, but the music was seeping into her brain again. It hurt to resist now.

"Tab…" she said. "Someone set…someone set Koji up."

"Huh? What do you mean?" They were both sliding around as the record spun. Amy gripped onto one of the metal struts attached to the DJ's booth and tried to think.

"The music…is making us see that Koji's there…but…but he isn't. Someone else is. And…" Suddenly she remembered someone else. "How did…did Breaker know to access that file? Someone told him…not Koji. Koji wouldn't…would he? Someone's trying to frame Koji."

"But who?" 

Suddenly there was a gigantic explosion.

Both rudies were thrown off their feet by the blast. The record was starting to tip from side to side now. 

There was nothing but silence. The music had stopped. It was bliss, like someone had taken a knife out of Amy's head.

"What happened?" she gasped, trying not to think about falling.

"Looks like Combo solved the music problem." 

"He may have created another, though…" The record jumped, and Amy dug her fingers into one of the grooves, shivering. "We may all be heading for a fall."

Gum felt an explosion rock her glass prison. It spun faster and faster. Around her the world blurred into streaks of fading colour. She dropped to the floor, hoping she wouldn't throw up.

Suddenly the glass smashed. Gum threw up her hands to protect herself, feeling tiny knives of glass spatter her skin.

"Come on!"

Beat was standing out there, clutching a long piece of metal.

"A speaker blew up. I got this out of it. Quick, move!"

Gum nervously wriggled out through the jagged edge of the glass. She landed on the record and literally fell into Beat's arms.

"Woah, what's going on?" she gasped. 

"This place is going psycho! Come on, let's get out of here!"

"No, we've got to get Piranha!"

"Huh?"

"Just let out the other dancer!"

Beat looked baffled, but he skated across to the other booth, chased it a few yards and then smashed the side. Gum followed him, and quickly climbed through the hole into the booth. She grabbed Piranha's mask and undid the clip.

"Boy, am I glad to be out of that!" Piranha grinned, shaking her hair loose. "What's going on?"

"I'll explain later!" Gum was pretty freaked out by this resurrection, but she knew this was no time for a heart-to-heart. "Move it!"

All over the roof, GGs were racing towards a cable which led to another skyscraper. Gum watched them grind onto it, and then remembered, with horror, that she and Piranha were not wearing skates.

"We're trapped," she said. 

"Hang on, girls!"

Combo's voice rang out behind them. Then Gum felt a huge arm sweep her off her feet. She closed her eyes as Combo leapt onto the cable. When she opened them again they were speeding along over empty space. 

Gum swallowed. Combo's grip didn't feel totally secure round her waist. If he dropped her – 

She imagined falling, seeing the lights rush towards her, knowing she was going to die.

Combo's fingers slipped on her skin. He was slowing down. 

"You're too heavy," he said slowly. 

Gum couldn't speak. She could see Piranha on Combo's other side. The GG looked petrified. 

"I'm gonna try jumping, okay?"

Gum closed her eyes as they left the wire. She felt the judder rush through her as they landed again. Combo kept jumping, trying to reach the other roof, but Gum could feel his hands becoming damp with sweat. Any minute now she'd slip out of his grasp, and plummet. Dizziness rocked her skull. 

And then suddenly he'd stopped jumping. He let go of her, and for a moment she was terrified – and then she landed on rough concrete.

She breathed a sigh of relief, and lay back, enjoying the sensation of solid ground and trying to ignore the icy air whipping across her chest and stomach.

"Hurry!" she heard Beat yell.

She sat up. Only Tab and Amy were left on the roof now, clinging on next to the DJ's booth. Tab struggled to his feet, but the record wobbled again and he fell.

The record plunged violently, and the cable to the skyscraper snapped.

"Oh, my god!" Gum looked in horror at the chasm between the two buildings. No way could anyone jump that. "They're trapped!"

Amy looked at the distant figures of the other GGs, and groaned. She'd heard Gum's shout float across the rooftop, and she agreed with it totally.

"Well, good thing there's someone left to see who the bad guy is," Tab said.

There was a humming sound, and Amy turned to see the glass walls of the DJ's booth retracting into the ground. When about a foot of glass still remained, there was an ominous crunch, and they stopped.

Amy stared at the figure standing against the horizon. "You?"

"Me." Camilla Rokkaku straightened the jacket of her crimson suit. "I must admit, I didn't anticipate earplugs. Which is unfortunate."

Amy couldn't speak. She supposed she should have guessed this, but she couldn't think of anything to say.

"You sure had me fooled," Tab said. He sounded pretty mad. "So, underneath all that glamour you're a secret serial killer?"

"No." Camilla shrugged. "Why else do you think I wanted you to be here?"

"I don't understand," Amy said slowly. 

"I do." Tab came to stand next to Amy. "You wanted us to stop you, right? We were the only people who tried to stop your dad. So you figured we were your best hope."

"Correct." Camilla flicked back her smoky hair. She was acting very calm, very controlled, but there was a slightly brittle edge to her performance that made Amy wonder how nervous she really was.

"I don't get it," Amy said. "Why would you want us to stop you?"

"She didn't do all this to get revenge on Tokyo-to," Tab said. "She did this to get revenge on her brother. Isn't that right, Camilla?"

"You're smarter than you look," Camilla replied. 

"You mean it was all a hoax?" Amy said.

"Not exactly. There are bombs in the computers, but I haven't activated them. I hoped I wouldn't have to."

"The music was meant to make us see Koji, wasn't it?" Amy said. "If we hadn't had the earplugs, we'd have thought it was him."

"And you'd have testified to that end." Camilla sighed. "And he would have been out of the way at last!" 

Her voice rose in fury.

"Why?" Amy stammered. "Why do you hate him?"

"Why? Oh, let me pick a reason." Camilla's blue eyes were blazing. "When we brought our report cards home at the end of term, Koji had got Cs and Ds, except for Business Studies, which was A*. I'd got all A*s, including Business Studies. Dearest Daddy takes one look and starts praising Koji for his excellent report. Did I even get a mention? Like hell I did!"

Camilla's voice rang with rage.

"Koji was the one who inherited the company. When our father's will was read, he got the company, the fortune, everything. For me, my father arranged that I be given a permanent desk job at the Rokkaku corporation. Never mind I'd got the grades, I'd got the mind to be able to manage the company. I was a girl, so down I went to typing letters and opening envelopes."

"So how'd you end up to be partners with Koji?" Tab asked. 

Camilla smiled. It was not a pleasant smile. "Oh, it was much more fun having me there so he could remind me of how I was only there on account of his charity. I got the worst of both worlds – all the pressure with none of the praise."

She smiled. "So I decided I was sick of it. I decided I'd show him what I could really do. I developed the music myself, and I made contact with the Assassins, and with Breaker. I never met them, so none of them knew I wasn't Koji. That was good. Less people to betray me. Then I made sure you rudies knew that something funny was going on at Rokkaku Towers."

"I thought Koji was being sort of obvious." Tab's voice was calm, but Amy could feel the rage in his hand, which was gripping hers. 

"I didn't want to kill the girl. So I brought her here, to be a dancer, and let you think she was dead."

"Huh?" Amy's mouth dropped open. "Piranha's alive?"

"I think so. If she survived the upheaval tonight. I got you two out of jail so that I could make you suspicious of my brother. When Breaker told me two girls were heading my way, I thought you might think of the roof. I couldn't risk this set-up being found too soon. I ensured that when you arrived only a GG – only someone who'd seen it before – would recognise it for what it was. Then I alarmed the roof so that I could monitor all access. And I gained another dancer."

Amy looked over at the two dancers' booths. They had been shattered like eggshells and the dancers had gone. Gum and Piranha?

"It was a good plot," Tab said. "I guess it doesn't bother you we've all been played for fools. Or that we've been mourning one girl and worrying ourselves sick 'bout the other."

"I'm sorry about that. But you know what they say about making omelettes and breaking eggs."

"What – what are you going to do now?" Amy asked.

"There's still time," Camilla said. "I can still succeed."

"You can't," Tab said. "We called the Keisatsu. They'll be here soon and you'll be a jailbird."

"They don't have earplugs," Camilla said sweetly. "And you've only put the main speakers out of action."

Still keeping her eyes on them, she began to fiddle with the battered control panel in front of her. Suddenly there was a click, and Amy heard the music begin to drone out.

"No…" she said. She could see Camilla's image wavering in front of her, trying to transform itself into her brother. "Stop it…"

Tab leapt towards Camilla, grabbed her wrists, but she moved quickly. Amy didn't see exactly what she did, but suddenly Tab was lying flat on his back. 

"Everyone knows rudies are crazy," Camilla said. "They won't believe you. And I'm sure Captain Onishima will be very glad to see you two again."

She pressed a button on the controls, and the music acquired a new edge to it. Amy gripped her skull. The music sliced through her brain like a cheese wire. Through the tears pooling in her eyes, she saw Camilla press another button, and the piece of roof with her on it began to sink into the floor.

"Stop her!" yelled Tab, picking himself up. Amy rushed forward, trying to ignore the agony the movement produced. She reached the booth and slammed her fists down on the button she'd seen Camilla press. The roof stopped sinking. Camilla reached up to try and press it again, and Amy grabbed the first bit of the other girl she could reach – her hair.

Camilla shrieked. She leapt out of the booth and slapped Amy round the face. Amy stumbled back, her head burning with pain, trying to keep her balance. Camilla didn't give her the chance. She rushed forward and shook Amy viciously.

It brought back a host of unpleasant memories. Amy felt terror rush through her, and to fight it she hit out at Camilla. She landed a few hits before the other girl somehow threw her, knocking her a few feet away. Tab rushed forward as Camilla made for the control panel again, and caught her feet. Camilla fell, and Tab grabbed hold of her wrists. Amy rushed over to the control panel, banging at the controls, and her head suddenly felt light as the music disappeared.

Then a voice rang out behind them.

"What on earth is going on?"

Koji.

All three fighters turned to look at him. He stood there, balancing with tigerish grace on the tilted record, looking down at them.

"Camilla?" he said. "Care to explain?"

There was a long silence. Amy stood there, trying to catch her breath, feeling her hands trembling. Far below her, she could hear cars rushing past the building.

"I'm waiting," Koji said.

Camilla shrugged and got to her feet, shaking Tab off her. She no longer looked immaculate; in fact she looked more like she'd been dragged through a hedge. Her hair was tangled; her shirt ripped; her tights laddered; and there was a long scratch on her face which was dribbling blood across her sun-kissed skin. 

She surveyed Koji calmly, then said, "Well, what do you think?"

"What do I think?" He walked closer to her. "I think I know why you've been wittering on about rumours in the city lately. Obviously you're the one who started them in the first place."

"You're accusing me of summoning a demon?" Camilla said.

"Yes." 

Koji slapped her across the face.

Camilla stumbled, but when she spoke her voice was still calm. "So what do you propose to do about it? Call the cops?"

"No." Koji's face became wooden. "You're going to return to your secretary's position in _my_ company. You will receive no promotion, but neither will you be arrested for tonight's escapade. I will simply tell people that you have found it too stressful at the top, and so you'll be giving sole command of the company to me."

"And these two witnesses?" Camilla's voice had become slightly strained, but her posture was steady. "Going to bribe them?"

"No."

Amy saw the gun in his hand, and felt sick.

"I'm going to remove them."

"What's going on? Can you see them?" Gum strained her eyes to peer across to the Rokkaku roof.

"Sort of." Garam shaded his eyes as he strained to see. "Koji's there…and…someone else…"

Piranha watched Garam. He wasn't looking at her. It was difficult to tell, but she was pretty sure he was avoiding her. 

Why? she thought miserably. What have I done to you? Aren't you happy to see me or anything?

"I think it's Camilla Rokkaku," Garam said. "But I can't work out what they're saying. Mew, what did the Keisatsu say when you called 'em?"

"They said they'd check it out, but I'm not sure if they believed me."

"Then all we can do is wait, right?"

"Yeah. No way we can get back over there."

Piranha crept over to Garam. She didn't know what to say, so she just stood and watched until he turned, and met her eyes. 

"You can't be real," he said. "You were dead. I saw your body."

"That wasn't me. Garam, I'm alive, and I missed you so much."

"If I start thinking that you'll just be taken away from me!" Garam's fists were clenched. "I'd just starting getting used to losing you and now you turn up. I'm not going to let them hurt me now."

Piranha stared at him, and then at last she choked out, "Well, you're hurting me."

Garam stared down at the dots of light below them. He didn't move.

"I won't let you be hurt again," Piranha said. "Face it, Garam, we're in a risky line of work here. If you just close yourself off you'll end up hurt anyway. You've been given a second chance, right? Why not take it?"

She waited, wondering what she'd do if he threw her offer back in her face. Leaping off the roof would seem to sum up her feelings.

Then he grabbed her and kissed her, clutching her as hard as if she were being dragged away from him. 

"I missed you…" he whispered. "I missed you so much."

"Don't worry," Piranha said. "You'll never have to miss me again."

"Are you crazy?" Tab yelled. "You can't just murder two people like that!"

"It's for the greater good," Koji said. "Think about it. No one will miss a couple of rudies. However, if you blab to the world, the entire Rokkaku company could crash, meaning hundreds of people becoming unemployed and causing widespread suffering."

Amy heard the click of the safety catch being released. Sweat bubbled on her skin. She gripped Tab's hand so hard she could feel the bones digging into her palm.

"So killing family members is okay in your world, is it?" Tab said, defeat echoing in his voice.

"Family members?" 

"Amy here is your cousin, I believe."

Camilla and Koji gaped at him. Koji finally stammered, "What on earth are you talking about?"

"Your mother was my father's sister," Amy said at last. "Mari and Ken Winters. I'm Amy Winters." She faced Camilla. "You visited my aunt yesterday morning, didn't you? I lived with her. She was my guardian."

"She's lying," Koji said, speaking to Camilla. "She has to be."

"I did visit Ima Winters yesterday," Camilla said slowly. "Are you telling me you're the child who was staying with her?"

"Yes, I am. We're cousins."

"Koji, no." Camilla walked over to her brother and pushed the gun away from Tab and Amy. "I am not having you do this."

"Then what do you suggest I do?" Koji snapped. "Let everyone find out what you've done? You've destroyed the corporation. No one will ever trust it again."

"They might not find out." Camilla had gone very pale. 

"They will. Rudies live for rumour. There were more of them here, weren't there? Tongues will wag. Sales will start falling off. We'll be ruined, and it'll be all your fault."

"Maybe if you hadn't been so damn patronising to me all the time it wouldn't have happened!" Camilla shouted. "You must have realised I'd get sick of it, being put down and insulted and ignored every second of the day!"

"You're just so touchy, aren't you? Can't take any sort of criticism! That's why our father didn't give you the company. You'd have ruined it!"

Camilla gave a shriek of fury and rushed towards her brother. She slapped his face, then tried to grab the gun off him. He pushed her back, and one of the heels of her shoes snapped. She stumbled off balance. Koji grabbed her wrist and flung her down onto the surface of the record.

"Listen," he snarled. "One more stunt like that and you're looking at an electric chair. Do you have any idea how badly a good lawyer could screw you in court?"

Camilla looked up at him, blue eyes burning with rage, but she didn't say anything. Koji turned away from her and pointed the gun towards Tab and Amy again.

"Sorry," Tab whispered. He put an arm round her. "I should've got us out of this."

Amy couldn't speak. She stared at Koji, wondering what it would feel like to die.

She saw a movement out of the corner of her eye. Camilla was crawling towards the wrecked DJ's booth. Before Amy could say anything, Camilla hit the controls, and the record began to spin again. Everyone was thrown to the ground.

"Are you crazy?" Koji yelled at his sister.

Camilla ignored him. The record was spinning faster and faster, tilting and twisting as it went. Amy could see the skyscrapers around them blurring into one smeared mass. There was nothing to hold onto, nothing to stop the speed. The record tipped violently. She rolled over and over and over, faster and faster –

Her hand touched thin air. 

And then she started to fall.

Desperately she grabbed onto something.

And then she was hanging from the edge of the record as it spun, her hair almost being dragged out of her scalp, her eyes stung by the air. She screamed, but it was lost in the whine of tortured metal. 

Her hand began to slip, and she thought, in horror, I'm going to die.

Tab saw Amy get thrown away from him, towards the edge of the record, and struggled to crawl after her. The record was throwing itself around like an injured horse. Every so often he was sent spinning in the other direction.

Then he saw her fall.

Oh, god, no, was his first thought. She can't have done…

He crawled faster, trying to reach the spot where she'd disappeared. As he got closer he could see her hand gripping the record's edge, the skin white and the bones clenched. 

"Amy!" he yelled. "Hang on!"

"Good suggestion…" Her voice echoed faintly up from below him. "But I don't think I'll be able to much longer…"

As her fingers began to slip he grabbed her wrist. 

Her weight dragged him down. He lay flat on the record, clutching Amy, while far below them the Tokyo-to buildings jumped and twisted.

"Can you pull me up?" Amy asked.

"No…" His arm was aching as though the muscles were slowly being torn apart. 

Amy swallowed and closed her eyes briefly. "Then I guess this is it."

Tab felt himself slowly slide towards the edge. Amy was pulling him down. "Yeah."

If only I was stronger, he thought. If only I could save her…

Suddenly he felt someone grip his ankles, stopping him sliding. He twisted round to look, and saw Camilla.

"Try and pull her up," she shouted, hair whipping round her face like a storm cloud. "I'll stop you falling."

Tab tried to drag Amy up, but he couldn't get enough lift. "It's no good," he called. 

"Come on!" Camilla dragged him backwards by the ankles. She was surprisingly strong. 

Tab let himself be pulled away. He clutched onto Amy's hand and watched as she dragged herself up onto the record's surface again. She dashed away from the edge as she did so. 

"Why…why did you save me?" she asked Camilla.

Her cousin shrugged. "I don't know."

A shot ricocheted off the record next to Tab's arm. He looked up and saw Koji, balancing on the twisting record, pointing the gun at them.

Tab swallowed, wondering if he could dash over and grab the gun or something. Just at that moment the record gave a violent tilt and knocked everyone back down again.

Including Koji. His head struck the side of the DJ's booth, and he lay still.

Camilla's face was grey. "Is he dead?"

Amy crawled over to the fallen man and checked for a pulse. "No…no, I don't think so."

Camilla closed her eyes and shivered. Then she sat up, looking businesslike as she did so. "Listen," she said, "You don't have to turn me in. You think he's any more fit to run the corporation than me? He tried to murder you. The only thing stopping me from getting him what he deserves is you. Just tell them you saw him in the booth, not me. Your friends did, didn't they? It won't matter."

"You must be joking!" Tab yelled. "You think I'm gonna let you get away with all this?"

"All what? Nobody's dead."

"No thanks to you!" 

"Anyway," Amy said quietly, "It's not fair. Koji mayn't be great, but he didn't do all this. You did. That's the important thing."

The record was still spinning, and now everyone was gripping onto the metal poles coming from the booth. Koji was beginning to slide down the record, but Amy put out a hand and gripped his shirt. 

"Is there any way to turn this fairground ride off?" Tab said as the record jumped again. This time he felt himself actually leave the ground for a few moments.

"I'll try." Camilla stood up, wobbling on her broken-heeled shoes. Gripping the metal with one hand, she leaned over to the control panel and started to tap at it. 

"What do we do?" Amy whispered to Tab. "Turn her in or what?"

"I'm not letting her get away with it." Tab remembered how frightened he'd been about what had happened to Gum…how Garam had looked when he'd seen the body in Benten-cho…how Amy had been smashed unconscious by the Assassin's bombs. 

"But can't you see why she did it?"

"Sure, her brother's a sleazebag. But that doesn't mean she gets to go round manipulating us."

Suddenly the record began to grind to a halt. Tab heard Amy breathe a slow, nervous sigh of relief as the buildings around them stopped spinning. Camilla dropped down next to Koji's unconscious form and sighed.

"You are crazy," Tab said, waiting for his stomach to stop lurching. "This ain't the way to sort out sibling rivalry."

"Don't lecture me." Camilla spoke like she didn't care much any more. "Do you know what it was like?"

"I don't know and I don't care." He remembered Beat's horrified face, a knife being brandished, silver against Mew's pale skin. "It's still no justification for doing this."

"But I haven't!" Camilla shouted. "I didn't do anything, did I? I made sure you knew, I prayed you'd come and stop it. I'm not a psycho. I'm not my father. I'm not."

Tab didn't answer. He just let his eyes travel around their surroundings, making sure she noticed.

"So – you'll turn me in?" Camilla's voice was suddenly younger, the strength of age ripped away. "Onishima'll love that."

"You played the game and you lost," Tab snapped. "Accept it and grow up."

Camilla's eyes narrowed. Her face seemed to harden, grow brutal. Tab saw her grab the gun too late. Her red nails scrabbled at its dull surface. A shot. He heard Amy scream. Then he was shoved back. Red soaking into his boiler suit. Amy was crying. He reached out to her but the world was going crazy, there was no way of reaching her. Then his sight blanked out.

Gum saw Tab crumple as though his strings had been cut.

"We've got to do something!" she yelled.

"How? None of us can jump the gap, can we?" Garam stared down at the urban chasm between the two buildings. 

"Then let's get down to ground level and do something that way! We can't just stand here!"

"Hey, guys!" Slate called from further back. "There's a plank here, and I think it's long enough to bridge the gap!"

As Combo went over to see, Gum kicked off her platform shoes and turned to Mew. "Give me your skates."

"Huh?"

"I'm not going to stand by while Tab's – Tab's –" She felt a sob rising in her throat, and bit it down. "I've got to help him."

Mew didn't protest any more. She sat down and began undoing her skates.

As Gum put them on, she heard Combo cheer, and turned to see that the plank had touched the edge of the Rokkaku building.

"Right," she said. "I'm going."

"You?" Garam said. "Why you?"

"Because Tab's my friend," Gum said. "Someone hold the plank."

She skated a little to build up some momentum, then leapt onto the plank, and ground along until she reached the Rokkaku building. 

Then she crept towards the scene.

Camilla Rokkaku was kneeling next to the DJ's booth, looking frightened. Tab lay in front of her, red smearing his boiler suit like a cheap movie effect. Amy was staring at him, tears spilling from her eyes. Suddenly she whirled to face Camilla, and screamed, "You _bitch! _How could you do that? How could you?"

Camilla shook her head and swallowed. "I didn't – I didn't mean to – I lashed out –"

Gum skated a little closer. A weapon…she needed a weapon…her hand closed on a piece of twisted metal that the broken speakers had spat out. Right. Now to show that Rokkaku whore that no one got away with hurting her friends.

Camilla laughed slightly. "I shouldn't have stopped Koji, should I? Should have let him do it. It's all the same in the end."

She raised the gun again. Pointed it towards Amy.

Afterwards Gum remembered it as slow motion. Amy's tearstained eyes widening in horror, painfully slowly. The muscles in Camilla's hand tensing as her finger tightened on the trigger. Herself rushing forward, feeling as though her legs were pushing through treacle. The metal bar catching Camilla's hand. The gun falling, falling, the light glinting on it. Camilla pressing her hand to her mouth, grabbing for the gun. Hand catching it, a shot being fired, slowly, so slowly. 

And then time went back to normal. The shot echoed. Gum ran forward and grabbed the gun, wrenching it from Camilla's fingertips, and flung it over the edge of the building. 

"Back off," she said to Camilla. "Us GGs don't die so easy."

Camilla's blue eyes burned. "I could see you do so."

Suddenly Gum heard the sound of rotor blades cutting through the air. Her hair began to tangle and blow around her face, and draughts rushed over her bare skin. 

She looked round to see a police helicopter hovering at the edge of the building. A megaphoned voice echoed from it: "STAY WHERE YOU ARE. THIS IS TOKYO-TO POLICE."

Camilla shivered.

"Shouldn't we get out of here?" Amy said. "If Onishima's in that thing…"

Gum agreed, but before she could do anything paratroopers dropped down and landed on the roof around them, surrounding them all.

"Rats," she muttered. 

A cop climbed down from the helicopter and walked over to them. "What's going on?"

As Amy stumbled out the story, Gum felt dampness on her arm, running down her skin. She looked down at it. 

The blood grinned darkly up at her. 

"How'd that happen?" she said, half to herself.

"Camilla shot at you," Amy said. She grinned weakly. "Who'd've thought you'd take a bullet for me?"

"I didn't choose to, schoolgirl rudie," Gum said. 

"You saved my life."

"And I don't know why, all right? Temporary insanity, maybe."

"You do realise," the cop said, "that skating is illegal."

"Of course," Amy said. "And you do realise that we felt it was in the interests of the city to break that law, as otherwise our mobility on here would have been severely restricted…"

"Big words from a little girl," Gum said.

The cop sighed. "I won't book you this time. But only this time."

Both girls nodded.

"We'll take your friend along with us. He looks like he could use some help."

Gum glanced at Tab, and shivered. "Please." She saw the paleness return to Amy's face.

"What about you?" Amy said. 

"I think it just grazed me," Gum said. "It don't hurt that much."

They stood together. Tab and Koji were being airlifted on stretchers, Camilla marched into the chopper by two cops. Her face was blank. 

"He'll be okay, right?" Amy said as the helicopter took off again.

"Of course he will." Gum closed her eyes, telling herself their dampness was due to the wind smacking her in the face. "He's got to be."

"Beat really missed you."

Gum grinned. "I bet you didn't."

Amy shrugged. "I didn't get the chance. A lot happened."

They both stared up at the helicopter, now fading into the sky. 

"He's gonna be okay," Gum said at the same time as Amy did.

She glanced over and met Amy's eyes. There was a short silence. Then she said, "I'm sorry."

"That's all right. I'm sorry I left you to get caught."

"Forget it." Gum smiled. "Let's go back to the others. Come on, Amy."


	11. Epilogue

Chapter 10 – Freedom

(Well, the last chapter is here! Please r+r, and thank you to all those who have! Oh, and disclaimer; I don't own JSR, Koji's name, or the Rokkaku corporation. However, I do own Amy and Camilla so paws off. That's all, folks! (Oh, and I don't own that either, it's © Warner Bros. I think.)

"Did you guys bring grapes?" Tab demanded as the GGs piled into the room. "If I'm gonna be hospitalised, I demand grapes."

"You don't even like grapes," Gum said, sitting down on his bed. "You should be happy we bothered to come see you at all."

"Did we win?" Tab asked. "Come on, spill. I can take it. Did we win? Or is it Armageddon out there?"

"Hmm…I dunno." Beat put on a thoughtful expression. "I don't know if we actually won. Not what you might call _winning. _What would you say the score was, Yo-Yo?"

"GGs six zillion, Rokkakus a big, fat zero!" Yo-Yo punched the air. "We did it, guys!"

"And we brought you a picnic," Mew said. "Thought you might be getting tired of hospital food."

"Camilla hasn't been tried yet, though," Amy said. "She's in on remand."

"No one posted bail?" Tab said through a mouthful of doughnut. "She's got the money, hasn't she?"

"Nuh-uh. _Koji's_ got the money," Cube said. "And he's not giving her a penny. Which means she's got to take the plain old state lawyer, and it also means Koji's hiring the best person he can to be prosecutor."

"Ouch." 

"Yeah. He issued a statement saying basically he didn't know what was going on, why she'd done it or nothing, and he was calling for the strictest penalty. She's disowned."

"And serves her right," Garam said. 

"She was under a lot of pressure, though," Amy said. "It doesn't seem fair, somehow. Koji was a pig to her."

"Is the company ruined?" Tab asked.

"Not really," Piranha said. "Koji's being very careful to distance himself, act like he didn't know anything about it. Which he didn't. But Camilla's told her lawyer why she did it, and now the papers are picking up on that. He's losing a lot of sympathy." 

"Which, seeing as he tried to shoot me, is a good thing, right?" Tab crunched a handful of crisps. 

"You had any trouble from Onishima?" Slate asked Tab.

"Nope. Not a thing."

"Cool." Gum smirked. "I guess our letter worked, then."

"What letter?"

"Me and Beat wrote to him. Told him if he tried to nab you we'd sorta mention the fact that it was us rudies who saved Tokyo-to's butt, instead of him. It won't keep him down for long, but it should hold until you're out of here."

"At the moment the police force is getting a lot of praise," Beat said. "We figured Onishima wouldn't want to lose that."

"At least that Rhino music's disappeared," Combo said, slamming his ghetto blaster onto the bedside table. "Now we can party!"

Finally the GGs left the hospital. Amy was the last to go.

"You are okay, aren't you?" she asked Tab.

"Yeah, I'm fine!" He sighed. "Really, Amy. Everything's okay."

"It is, isn't it?" Amy said. She touched the GG necklace she was wearing. "It really is."

"You heard any more from your aunt?"

"No." Amy shook her head. "But if she comes near me again I'm reporting her. She hasn't done anything so far. I'm hoping she's given me up for dead."

"No reconciliation, then."

"No." It was a flat statement.

"Don't worry about her." Tab took Amy's hand. "You got us. And you got me."

"I know." She kissed him. "I got you."

"So, you glad I crashed through your window, then?"

"You bet."

"You'll have to thank Gum for that, you know. She made me do it."

"Great. I know there was some problem with it." Amy grinned. "Seriously, you know you saved me."

"That so?" He looked up at her. "This isn't all fun and games, you know. You could get arrested again…knocked down…"

"So could any of us. That's not the point. The point is…oh, I don't know. The point is I'm happy. Thanks to you." She sat down next to him. 

"That's okay. After all, it's not every guy gets to go out with a schoolgirl rudie."

THE END

(It's raining men, hallelujah, it's raining men…cellllllllllabrate good times, 

come on!…sha lalalala, shalala in the morrrrrrrrning…

Sorry, but as some of you may know this fic hasn't exactly been a bundle of joy. I'm extremely grateful to everyone who reviewed, you really made the whole thing easier! Thanks are due to Nik The Rudie (i.e my annoying brother) for reading it as I wrote it, and for offering suggestions, and to Disk the GG for being generally helpful and aiding me in keeping the story on the rails. Oh, and inspiring me with Amy's parentage! May you all be deified!)


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